Wow it's been just over a year since I started posting this story, I was a little slow getting started... I have to admit I was very nervous about putting this story out there for you all to read but I wanted to take this oppertunity to THANK YOU ALL for reading! I just got my 100th review! ( I can't tell you how much that means to me!) and I want to tell you that it has been through these reviews, your kind words and encouragement that has kept me posting new chapters. So instead of a disclaimer this time I am going to say a very humble Thank you!

A writters words are nothing but marks on a page unless someone is willing to take the time to read them! So knowing this I am honoured!

Chapter Sixty-five

An Infestation of Nargles

Hermione found Taylor that night after supper still sound asleep on her bed. Harry had become very worried when he didn't hear from his sister all day and had checked the Map and saw she was in her bed. Hermione had gone up to get her.

Taylor was still tired and yawning when she headed for the showers and then to the kitchens to get something to eat. Harry and Ginny went with her and they filled her in on what had happened that day.

The whole school now knew that the Head Boy was in the Hospital Wing and that Taylor was somehow linked to it. The rumors about what had happened, of course, were wild and rampant. Not helped by the fact Taylor had missed the last two days of classes as well.

"So what are you going to do when you are finished eating?" Harry asked leaning against the wall of the kitchen with his arms folded, as he watched his sister start on her fourth sandwich.

"I'm going back to the hospital so I can get in before Pomfrey shuts the doors for the night." And then she briefly told them how angry the Hufflepuff had been yesterday.

"You know McGonagall isn't going to let you miss very many more days of classes." Ginny said knowingly.

"Yeah," Taylor said taking a drink of pumpkin juice before continuing, "but what I've been thinking, is that he doesn't need or want me there during the day, so I'm just going to go and stay at night. Maybe that's kind of crowdedness on my part but…" she shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't think that at all and neither does anyone else. It's going to take time for Greg to come to terms with what happened. You know Bill still struggles with it at times and he doesn't have the transformations to worry about." Ginny said gently. She was of course speaking about her oldest brother Bill who had been attacked at the school at the end of last year. "Fleur helps him I guess, however I still can't see what he sees in her."

Taylor couldn't help snorting, "She is your sister in-law now you know."

"Don't remind me! I thought Mum was going to jinx her into a puddle before the wedding last summer! Though now… Did I tell you Fleur is pregnant?"

Taylor looked up in surprise and through a mouth full of food mumbled, "Really? 'ow'd tha' 'appen?"

Harry stared open mouthed at his sister for a moment before snorting in laughter, "You really don't know?"

Taylor swallowed and stuck her tongue out at her brother, "Of course I know how it happened! I did grow up on a farm you know, you prat! I meant when."

Ginny was snickering herself but managed to say, "I just found out last week. She's due in September."

They talked some more and then Taylor thanked the house elves and they left, parting when they reached the corridor for the Hospital Wing. Taylor had brought her brother's cloak with her and when she was alone, pulled it over her head and walked down to the hospital doors and silently let herself in.

The Hufflepuff was sitting up in his bed. When she tiptoed around the screen and he glanced in her direction, she froze. For the first time in three days she looked into his eyes and saw his anger and another emotion, one she recognized from her own self, self-loathing. Her chest tightened painfully and she wanted to go to him and wrap her arms around him, anything to take his pain away. How long he sat and stared at where she was standing she didn't know, before he turned and stared out the dark windows. Moving as quietly as possible she walked to the next bed beside his and sat down on the floor between it and the next one. She'd make too much noise if she sat on the bed plus he might see the bed move.

Sitting there in the silence, Taylor thought about what Ginny had said about her brother Bill. He had a job, he was a curse breaker for Gringott's and the goblins there didn't care about his affliction, as Ginny had put it. Now Bill was going to be a father. Taylor smiled. She knew Mrs. Weasley would be thrilled about that.

Then her smile faded as she looked over at the Hufflepuff sitting in the bed. He didn't have a job yet and she knew that many people didn't trust werewolves. Life was going to be a lot more difficult for him. She didn't know if, after Voldemort was gone, he'd still be able to become an auror or not. She hoped so.

Taylor froze as she realized the significance of her last thought. For the first time she had looked beyond the end of the war, beyond Voldemort, and wanted something. She knew what she wanted too. She wanted what Bill and Fleur had. A life together with Greg and she even wanted to have a family with him. The realization hit her like a ton of bricks, making her breath catch in her throat. Sometime over the last few months the Hufflepuff had made her want something more, more then just the end of Voldemort and his terror. It scared her. She knew how likely it was that she wouldn't live past the end, would gladly die to bring Voldemort down. Now though, she had more to fight for, more to live for.

She returned her gaze to the Hufflepuff brooding in his bed and knew that somewhere along the way he had become as important to her as her brother. A very scary thought indeed.

It was sometime after midnight when the Hufflepuff started to moan again in his sleep, twisting and turning restlessly in his bed. Taylor went to his bed and conjuring a pillow she sat on the floor. "Shh, I'm here." She whispered as she took his searching hand in hers. "I'm here. Shh, I'm not going anywhere, Hufflepuff."

"Taylor," The word sighed from him as he stilled and his breathing deepened and slowed.

Taylor smiled sadly as she brushed a tendril of hair off his brow.

The sun was just starting to lighten the eastern sky when she got up and vanishing the pillow, kissed him on the forehead before carefully pulling her hand from his and moving away. She stayed a little longer but when he started to stir she left, slipping out through the door Pomfrey had just unlocked once again.

That day was hard. A lot of people stopped her and asked about the Head Boy and what had happened. None were satisfied with her answers and her refusal to say anymore than she had told the Hufflepuffs Sunday morning. After each class that she knew the Hufflepuff had, she asked for his homework, deciding that she'd stop by and see him after last class. He might as well start getting used to the idea that she wasn't going anywhere.

When the lunch bell rang, Taylor packed up her potions ingredients and put them away.

"You are not up to your usual standards today, my dear." Slughorn chided as he vanished the less then perfect potion in her cauldron and he wrote down her mark.

"Sorry Professor, I just have a lot on my mind right now." Taylor sighed. She could see Parkinson snickering in the corner.

"You need to try harder. NEWTS aren't far away you know."

Taylor just nodded as she grabbed her bag and headed out of the class with Harry, Ron and Hermione. She hadn't quite reached the end of the corridor when Parkinson said quietly from right behind her.

"Poor Mudblood, you're going to have to keep that half-blood traitor on a leash from now on!"

Taylor wheeled so fast that she had Parkinson by the throat and shoved against the wall before the Slytherin had time to react.

"Parkinson you really do not want to piss me off today!" Taylor snarled as she pushed her wand into the side of the Slytherin's neck hard enough to leave a mark.

"Taylor…" Harry's voice had a clear warning in it.

"You'd best go crawl in a hole, Parkinson. But if I ever hear a single whisper that you had anything to do with what happened to the Head Boy… Then I will come looking for you…" Taylor's voice was low and dangerous, as fear clouded the Slytherin's eyes. "and no one will stop me until I find you!" Shoving the Slytherin witch harder into the wall, Taylor stepped back. Fury had her trembling, wishing that the Slytherin would be stupid enough to try something.

With one last fearful glance at the furious Gryffindor, Parkinson took off, racing down the hall. Taylor watched her go, fighting the urge to hex the Slytherin in the back.

Harry waited for a few more seconds after the Slytherin was lost in the crowd, heading for the Great Hall, before he put his hand on his sister's arm. He was surprised to feel the tremors in her arms. "Come on, let's go get something to eat. She won't be bothering you anytime soon."

Taylor glared up at her brother before stalking off.

Ron let out a very low whistle, "She's down right scary when she's that pissed mate!" he looked over at Harry who only nodded.

"I'd be careful if I was you Ron, I don't think it'd take too much to set her off right about now." Hermione warned. The last thing they needed now was for Ron to start teasing Taylor.

"Warning duly noted witch," Ron said with a grin as he threw his arm over her shoulders and they set off down the nearly empty corridor after Taylor.

Taylor had only gone down one floor when she heard her name being called and, though she'd rather ignore it, she recognized the voice.

"Hi Taylor, I just thought maybe we should talk," Lupin said as he stopped in front of her. Then he slowly took in her expression before adding, "Something happen?"

"Nothing I can't handle!" Taylor ground out, glaring up at her parents' best friend.

Lupin sighed before saying, "Come with me please. I know we need to talk." He pointed down the corridor and Taylor started walking. She saw her brother and his eyebrows rose when he saw she was going with Lupin, but he let her go without comment, waving to the two of them.

Lupin led her to a room he and Moody were using as an office of such, and pointed to a chair as he pointed his wand at a teapot and then proceeded to make tea and waving his wand over a empty plate on the desk it filled with sandwiches. After he poured the tea he sat down in the other chair and studied her for a long moment before he finally spoke.

"I hear you've been sneaking into the Hospital to see Greg."

The sentence caught her off guard and it took a few seconds for her to respond. "Oh, well… uhm, how?"

Lupin smiled gently, "Moody told me. He can see through invisibility cloaks you know."

Taylor could feel her face heating up and dropped her gaze to the floor.

"He let it go because he knew you were only trying to be a good friend to the boy. I hear he has refused to see anyone, including you." It was said gently but Taylor still flinched. "He will need time, Taylor."

Taylor nodded.

Lupin sighed again and Taylor looked up at him. She could see how tired he looked and the gray in his hair seemed even more prominent against the bare gray walls. "He has a very difficult time ahead of him. It will not be easy at all."

"I know. But there is the Wolfsbane Potion now and…" her voice trailed off.

"It's not a cure, Taylor! He will always be extremely dangerous. You know this first hand." Lupin's voice was hard and clipped.

Taylor stood and began to pace. "I know that, but I don't care. I'm not going to leave him just because of his furry little problem!" Taylor knew that was what her father had always referred to Lupin's lycanthropy as.

"We are not talking about school friends here Taylor and you know it." His voice softened a little as he asked, "Do you love him?"

Taylor paused in her pacing and looked the werewolf straight in the eye. "Yes. I love him."

Lupin sighed and ran his hand up through his graying hair. "I'm not sure that is a good thing." He held up his hand to stop her from interrupting as he continued. "I know what he is going through, what he will go through for the rest of his life, and it is not an easy thing to deal with. Sure the Wolfsbane Potion helps. It keeps me from becoming a dangerous monster, but I still become a werewolf once a month. He is going to find it very difficult to find work. People are always going to look at him differently. It is not easy. Your brother and you are different Taylor. You are like your dad and mum. They could see the good in people like me, but you are the exceptions in our world, not the norm."

Taylor resumed her pacing as she thought about what he said and then a question that had been lurking in the back of her mind since that night of the attack voiced itself. "Who was the werewolf that attacked us?"

Lupin's expression became pained. "It was a student." Taylor gasped as her eyes became wide. "A Ravenclaw fourth year. Minerva and Kingsley allowed him to go home after Moody found him the next morning. They made up a story of course to cover his disappearance. We figure it had to be his first transformation, but they couldn't find out exactly how he became infected."

Taylor shook her head sadly. So there was another who would have to suffer for the rest of their lives as well. A shiver ran down her spine as she thought how close she had come to using the Dark Magic spell to kill the werewolf. She rubbed a hand tiredly up over her face. The werewolf had been a student, for crying out loud.

After a few more minutes Lupin asked her to sit and have some tea and sandwiches. They talked some more about the Ravenclaw and his sudden infection, speculating on what it meant. She told him about using the Dark Magic spell on the werewolf, but she was too ashamed to tell him about almost using the one that would have killed a student. When the last sandwich was gone Taylor asked something that she'd been meaning to ask the werewolf since Sunday.

"Moony, are you going to talk to Greg about, well you know, all of this?"

Lupin smiled a little as James' daughter called him by his old nickname before he became serious and answered. "Minerva, as well as Greg's father, have both approached me about speaking to him. I have agreed to do so. However I thought I should wait for a few days and allow him to come to terms with it first."

Taylor nodded. "Thank you Moony. He might not appreciate it but I sure do. Is there anything I can do to make this any easier on him? I asked Professor Slughorn once about showing me how to make the Wolfsbane Potion, before this happened I mean. I thought when I got out of school, you know maybe I could make it for you, if you wished. He said he would." Taylor added helpfully.

Lupin looked sadly at his best friends' daughter. It would have been so like Lily to make such an offer if the Wolfsbane Potion had been around back then. "I'm sorry Taylor, but he is going to have to suffer through the first transformation without it. It's not a widely known fact that it can't be given before the first one. I will talk to him and prepare him the best I can… though nothing I can say will truly prepare him. I'm sorry to say."

Taylor could see the deep sorrow in his eyes and impulsively went and gave him a hug. "Thanks Moony." A thought occurred to her. "What about if… well if you…"

Remus shook his head knowing what she was going to ask. "I can't go stay with him Taylor, I'm sorry. Werewolves aren't like regular wolves. They do not do… well with others of their kind. Male werewolves have been known to fight to the death. It's probably why the numbers don't escalate out of control." His eyes narrowed on the underage witch and he said in a menacing tone, "Don't you go getting any ideas about joining him either! What your father and Sirius did for me… well back then it was incredibly dangerous! Promise me you won't go and try to do something like that!"

Taylor grinned, but she said seriously, "Don't worry Moony. I'm not my father. And transfiguration is not my best subject! Just ask Professor McGonagall, she'll tell you. Besides alone I'd never be able to change into anything big enough to control the Hufflepuff. If you haven't noticed he is a lot bigger then me. As much as it's going to hurt, I'll stay away from him during the full moon."

Lupin could see that she had already given it some thought, though he couldn't blame her for that. "It will get easier after the first one. It will still be hard on him, but with the Wolfsbane it will make it a little easier."

The bell to end lunch rang and Taylor hugged her parent's best friend again, thanking him for talking to her about all this before heading out to her next class.

Later that afternoon after her last class, she gave Hermione her book bag to take to her room as she headed for the Hospital Wing, promising to meet the others in the Great Hall for supper shortly. She had kept the Hufflepuff's homework and the books the teachers had given her for him.

She wasn't sure what was going to happen when she went in to see him but she didn't care. Her mind was made up. The door to the Hospital was slightly ajar when she got there so she slipped in through it and walked towards the screened off bed. She was almost to it when Pomfrey came around it heading to her office. The nurse merely nodded and kept on her way.

Taking a deep breath she stepped around the screen. The Hufflepuff was sitting up looking off through the window towards the quidditch pitch and didn't see her right away. Pomfrey must have just changed his bandages, as his pajama shirt was lying on his bed. Standing quietly, she studied him for a moment, noting that the bandages were a lot smaller now, not covering much more than his ribcage and the one on his arm was reduced to just his forearm.

A vision flashed before her eyes of when the werewolf had a hold of that arm, it's long teeth sinking into it, only inches from her face. She took a shuddering breath and shook her head trying to get rid of the image.

"What are you doing here? I thought I told you to go away!" The deep voice was cold and angry.

Putting a smile on her face she focused on him. "Really? Nope, sorry, never heard you. Must have had an infestation of Nargles. I really should tell Pomfrey so she can see about getting rid of them." The Hufflepuff continued to glare at her. "Anyway I brought you some school work. I thought that where you are refusing to see anyone, you'd like to have something to fill your day with besides sitting there brooding."

"Why don't you go to hell!" Greg snarled as his hands curled into fists. "What would I care about school work for?"

"Well to quote most of the teachers, NEWTS are nearly here, and you don't want to do poorly on them!" Taylor's voice was forced light.

"What the hell do I care about NEWTS for? In case you've forgotten I AM A MONSTER!" The Hufflepuff bellowed.

Taylor's wand came out and she put up a silencing spell before he had finished his sentence.

"No! You are a werewolf and there is one hell of a big difference!" Taylor snapped back glaring at the Hufflepuff.

"Go to Hell!"

"You might not be a monster but you sure as hell are acting like a big git!" Taylor said with derisive snort. "Anyway like I said. Here's some schoolwork. I'll bring you some more tomorrow. See you then." Taylor had to force the smile to her face as she put the schoolwork on the end of his bed.

The Hufflepuff continued to glare at her, his voice was as sharp as a whip and cut just as deep. "I told you to go away. Don't bother coming back!"

It was all she could do to keep the smile on her face. "What's that? Couldn't hear a thing, must be the Nargles again," She turned to leave and a book nearly hit her as it went flying past. Her wand was in her hand and stopped the book before it hit the floor. She floated it back to the bed and put it back where she had laid it down. "I must mention to Pomfrey, I think she might have some pink-winged broom-hoppers too! See you tomorrow!"

With a wave of her wand she undid the silencing charm and walked out, tears flooding down her face. Once outside the hospital she started to run and she raced all the way up to the seventh floor to the Room of Requirements. The anger and the pain she was feeling made her spells incredibly powerful. By the time she finally slid down one of the walls crying, the room looked like someone had set an explosion off in it.

When she had finally returned to the common room a couple hours later, her brother's voice died in his throat at the sight of her face and he pulled her into a hug instead and sat on the sofa just holding her.

That night Taylor returned to the Hospital Wing under the invisibility cloak. So when the Hufflepuff started to twist and turn in his bed, moaning her name, she was there for him, whispering in his ear and holding his hand.

A/N Well Greg is really being a git eh? I am sorry if his emotions/actions seem a little over the top but life as he knew it has ended and wallowing in ones own self-pity doesn't tend to bring out the best in most people. On another note Taylor had a nice long chat with Lupin. I know I kind of made up the whole the Woldsbane Potion doesn't work on the first transformation thing but it doesn't state in any of the books that it does or doesn't so I took a little writters liscence. And sorry to disappoint anyone hoping Taylor was going to become an animagus... that just isn't going to happen. Well anyway hopefully you enjoyed this chapter and I promise Greg will not be a git forever!

THANK YOU to all of you who have reviewed my story! WOW 100! As well thank you to those who have Alerted and Favorited this story! And to you who have read this far! I take it as a compliment that you have read this far! I would be very remiss if I didn't thank my wonderful beta barbc who has been with me from the very start and is the only other person to has read this whole story other then me! Well until next time, (a hint reviews always make me post chapters more quickly! :D) cytpotter.