No I do not own Harry Potter but I do own the charactors that you don't recognize as well as the plot!

And because I recieved so many reviews yesterday I am posting another chapter today! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Sixty-six

Brutally Honest

By the time the bell rang to end her last class Friday afternoon, Taylor was both physically and mentally exhausted. Putting her stuff in her bag she slung it over her shoulder and walked out of Charms with the others. Professor Flitwick had already given her Greg's homework.

Dread filled her. She dreaded walking to the Hospital Wing. She dreaded seeing the anger in Greg's eyes and the cutting remarks he threw at her trying to make her stay away.

Harry and Hermione had both offered to come with her but she had refused. She didn't think she could stand it if the Hufflepuff tried to hurt her friends like he did her. She never told anyone what he said to her. She just put up a silencing charm as she walked around the screen, every time. She was afraid Pomfrey might not let her back in if she heard what the Hufflepuff yelled at her.

She always returned each night and Greg always moaned her name. She had tried just watching him for a while but he just became more and more agitated. Besides she couldn't stay away and not take the opportunity to touch him and hold his hand.

Her legs felt like they were made of wood as she slowly approached the dreaded Hospital door. Saying a silent prayer she opened the door and went in. Forcing a smile on her face, she put up a silencing charm as she stepped around the screen.

The Hufflepuff was lying in the bed this time, but she could see, as his pajama shirtsleeve pulled up a little, that his arm was finally bandage-free, though the scars on it were still red and angry looking. She didn't realize she had been staring until-

"What the Hell do you want? Do you like this?" He yanked up his pajama sleeve to show her the full extent of the wicked looking scars. "Is that why you keep coming back? To fulfill some sadistic thrill?"

Her heart broke once more at his scathing voice. It took her a second to get a grip on the hurt and force her voice past the huge lump in her throat. "No, not really. I am glad to see that they are healing though. I just brought you some more school work."

"Why don't you just take that load of shit and shove it!"

Slowly Taylor closed her eyes and biting the inside of her lip hard enough to taste blood, she opened her eyes and continued. "Professor McGonagall announced today that the next quidditch match is going to be postponed for a week."

"What the HELL? Do you think I care about quidditch? Go the hell away!"

Forging on with the things she thought he should know, her voice trembled dangerously. It was becoming harder and harder to ignore his remarks. "I was out and got your work from Professor Hagrid. He said…" Taylor caught her lip again because she knew this would start him ranting again. "…he said to say 'hi' and that he was looking forward to seeing you back in his class soon."

"You've got to be joking me! You have the nerve to stand there and think I'm going back to classes? Like this! God Porter! I always knew you were a little loopy but you just haven't got a clue!"

"Your Ancient Runes teacher told me what book you'd need from the library to do his assignment. I'll get it for you tomorrow." Taylor finished and wished her voice didn't quiver so as she put his homework on the end of his bed. She never went any closer than the end of his bed, not that she was afraid of him, but she wanted to give him some room and not feel like she was trying to get in his personal space.

"Don't bother! Just go! Go and don't come back! God witch, you are dunce!"

With an effort she gathered her courage. "Goodnight Greg. I'll see you tomorrow." Turning, she left waving her wand to release the silencing charm. Her chest actually hurt to breathe. Her hands shook so hard that it took two tries to reach the handle on the door as the tears, that she had managed to keep at bay while she stood in front of him, poured down her face.

"Taylor? What's wrong?"

She couldn't handle anymore right now, not him, not his accusations. "Just… look either hex me or leave me alone Justin. I can't do this right now."

Finch Fletchly stared at the Gryffindor as she held her hands up in surrender and then walked slowly down the corridor away from him. The raw look of pain on the witch's face made him speechless. It was a few minutes before he gave his head a shake and headed for the Hospital doors, but like always, the nurse met him there and turned him away saying that Greg wasn't up to having visitors.

Taylor made it to an empty classroom, just around the next corner and went in. Curling up in a tight ball on the floor she finally allowed her heart to pour out as she cried.

A shadow on the wall out in the corridor moved as a wizard stepped out from behind a statue, his face hard and cold as he turned and strode purposefully down the corridor that the underage witch had just walked up a few minutes ago. When he reached the Hospital he pushed the doors open and walked in, as the nurse came out of her office to see who had come in.

"Poppy, I need a word with Mr. Hunter." The voice had a dangerous, hard edge to it.

The nurse's eyes went wide as she looked up into the wizard's face. She had never seen him so angry. "All right, Remus."

The older werewolf just gave a jerky nod as he headed for the screen and the boy in the bed behind it. His wand was in his hand as he rounded the screen and it flashed angrily through the air as he put up a silencing charm.

"What…" The words died in the Hufflepuff's throat when cold pale eyes met his and pinned him with a furious look.

"I've been asked to talk to you, boy. And I think it is a talk long past due!"

Greg swallowed reflexively as he dropped his eyes away from the cold pale ones that seemed to be boring into his.

"What is the matter, Hunter? None of your snide remarks for me?"

Greg's head snapped up and he sent the older wizard an angry look.

"Do you think I don't know what you have been doing all week? Do you think I don't see your friends waiting out in the hall wanting to see you? Did you think I wouldn't hear about your little temper tantrum with your father?" Lupin's voice dropped low and deadly as he asked, "Did you think I wouldn't notice Miss Porter leaving this hospital every night so upset that she is crying?"

"I don't ask her to come back!" The Hufflepuff snapped venomously.

Lupin laughed but it made the hairs on the back of Greg's neck stand on end.

"You are a fool!"

"I'm a fucking werewolf! She's better off without me!"

"Look pup, you have a hell of a lot to learn. About being a werewolf and about the scarce commodity called friendship!"

"Friendship! Like hell! She can't even stand to get closer to me then the end of my bed!" The Hufflepuff yelled.

Lupin laughed again, the same mirthless laugh, as he shook his head. "Boy you haven't got a clue about that girl! She's not the one who is pushing people away. Treating the only one who dares to come around like dirt."

"What do you want?"

"I came to tell you about being a werewolf. So here it is," the older werewolf's voice was cold and brutally honest. "Once a month you are going to turn into a man-eating beast. You will kill or try to kill anyone who you happen across. They could be your worst enemy, some poor muggle out for a walk, or your dearest loved one. You will not care because when the beast takes over you have no control. Two or three days before the full moon you will start hearing and smelling things that are impossible for other humans. The night of the full moon you will transform, an extremely painful transformation that can be likened to being Crucioed. The next morning you will wake up naked, exhausted and with numerous wounds and cuts all over your body, which you will have no recollection of how you received them. That about covers it I believe, oh I forgot the hardest part. Where people look at you suspiciously, as if you are going to attack them at any moment. No one will hire you, most won't even speak to you. You will be shunned by all in our world… for the rest of your life."

Greg stared open mouthed at the wizard standing at the end of his bed, the cold hard words sinking into his memory.

Several minutes ticked by in silence, then in a softer, gentler voice the older werewolf started to speak again. "That is the way it was. Before a very kind, wise wizard gave a young werewolf a chance, a chance at a normal life. To go to school, to learn and to do the unthinkable… to make friends. Something so precious, that it changed that young boy's life. Not only did he make friends, but those friends instead of turning away when they found out the truth, they became if at all possible, closer."

"These are dangerous times that we live in, even more dangerous for werewolves, because of the suspicion that we live under at the best of times. I have been more fortunate then most. I have made friends, good friends that can look beyond what I become once a month to see me as me, a man. I can't tell you how lucky you are. You have friends in those five Gryffindors that will never look on you suspiciously, never judge you because of what you become once a month. And then there is Taylor. She isn't scared of you because of what you are. She saved your life and she has refused to leave you when you have tried pushing her away by hurting her each day. I have been alone for many years, but I have a witch now who can see me for me. A treasure more precious than all the others and more rare than any of the others."

Silence again.

"She shouldn't have saved me. She should have let me die." Greg said heavily shaking his head.

"She couldn't. It's not in her to do that. You know she used Dark Magic to keep that werewolf off you?" The Hufflepuff's head came up and he looked the older wizard in the eye once again. "It was no accident that werewolf was on the grounds that night."

"What do you mean?" The Hufflepuff asked suddenly fearful.

"We figure that it was here to lure Taylor out. We aren't exactly sure what the plan was to get her out of the castle, but it ended up it wasn't needed. You two unwittingly played right into the master plan, and that was to discover who at Hogwarts could use Dark Magic."

Greg closed his eyes, as he said quietly, "So this whole thing goes back to Voldemort?"

"Yes, and now he knows."

"Does she know?" Greg's voice was barely a whisper and he cleared his throat and said a little louder. "Does Taylor know?"

"No, not yet. She's been dealing with enough this week, don't you think?"

Greg dropped his head into his hands. He was such an ass! He'd only been thinking of how his world had suddenly ended, he couldn't see anything past his own pain and fear.

"She will blame herself. She warned me you know… at first when I wanted to start seeing her. She told me that it was too dangerous, but I didn't listen. Merlin I have been such an ass! Oh God! The things I have…" Greg shook his head as his shoulders slumped.

"I don't doubt she will blame herself. She does already."

"She probably won't come back tomorrow, if you knew the horrible… I was just so scared and angry and…" Shaking his head slowly he dropped it into his hands again.

"She will be back. She's been coming twice a day all week."

"Twice? When…?"

"I think you know if you think about it. That spare pillow under your bed should give you a clue." Lupin pointed to a pale blue pillow that was under the Hufflepuff's bed.

Greg stared up at him, as his heart constricted in his chest. He had thought he'd been only dreaming all week that he heard Taylor's voice in his dreams and her hand in his. In the mornings when he woke up he could have almost sworn he could smell her light raspberry smell lingering in the air.

"She's been staying here all night? But how…?"

"She's been using Harry's cloak. I assume you are familiar with that?"

Greg nodded numbly. His witch hadn't been scared of him, he realized now. She had tried to give him time to come to terms with what happened. Checking in with him every day, but he had just been horrible to her, cruel, though every night, when he needed her, she had come. Not to hear a thank you and a smile the next morning, only to comfort him and sneak away before he could hurt her again.

"If you have any more questions I will gladly answer them if I can. Just tell Poppy that you wish to speak with me." Lupin said quietly before turning to go.

"How do I…? How can I…?" Greg didn't know how to ask what he needed to do to take away all the hurt he had made his witch feel.

"I'd start by apologizing. Good night Greg."

Long after the older wizard left the Hufflepuff sat and thought, really thought about what had happened to him. He had thought it was the end of the world, and he hadn't been able to see past his own anger and fear to listen to what anyone said to him. He had just wanted to make everyone hurt as much as he did. His father, and uncle, Pomfrey and even the Head Mistress had tried to tell him that things would get better, that he would adjust, that he could lead a relatively normal life with only a few changes, but he hadn't listened.

Then there was Taylor, he groaned out loud. He remembered her face from earlier, and how her voice had trembled. In his irrational anger he had thought it was because she feared him. What an idiot he was! His witch… the thought stopped there. His Witch. Merlin, he had been a fool.

Memories flooded his mind, of how he had treated her that week, of the little he remembered of the attack and his witch's refusal to leave him. Her voice that night asking him if he could get up, telling him he had to, had been so fearless. She hadn't feared a werewolf on the full moon but her eyes had been filled with dread and pain as she faced him across his bed.

"Oh god, Taylor what have I done?" the Hufflepuff whispered into the empty hospital ward as he covered his face with his hands.

Later that night as the Hufflepuff lay silently in his bed he saw the shifting of the shadows as the door opened and then closed again, though even with his listening ears he couldn't hear anything. Closing his eyes he forced his face to relax as he slowed his breathing. He couldn't explain it but he needed to know… to know that his witch was coming to him at night, not the vague knowledge of his half asleep mind.

It felt like a long time passed before he heard anything and that was Pomfrey coming out to check on him again before she went to bed. He listened as the nurse moved around him, waved her wand over him and then headed back to her office, locking the hospital doors on her way. Then there was silence once again. He was finding it difficult to lie so still and pretend to be asleep, and in a moment of restlessness that he didn't catch in time his body moved on the bed.

He felt her presence more than heard it at first. Then ever so softly he felt her hand brush the hair off his brow. And before he could stop it, he sighed.

"I'm here Hufflepuff, shh, I'm here."

His witch's voice was soft and gentle as her hand found his and held it tight.

It was about the hardest thing he ever did, to lie there and pretend to be asleep. He was surprised she didn't notice his pounding heart. After a long while he chanced cracking his eyes open just a fraction and then they opened fully, as a tender smile covered his face. His witch had her head laid on the edge of his bed. It and only one shoulder were showing, the rest of her body was eerily missing hidden beneath the invisibility cloak. Her eyes were closed, and her glasses were pushed awkwardly askew, but he could tell she was sound asleep. He ached to reach out and touch her. In the end he didn't, he didn't want to possibly wake her up and have her go away.

He did however lay there for a long, long while just looking at her face. He could see the fatigue in her face even as she slept, and the dark circles under her eyes. The dim lighting made her face look pale. With a heavy sigh he could see that she had cut her hair again, it had been getting fairly long and she had started using a barrette or two to keep it out of her eyes. He remembered the last time she had cut it before Christmas break and wondered if she did it out of anger. He thought she had such beautiful hair, a deep mahogany that had gold highlights in the bright sunshine.

The school clock chimed two before he finally closed his eyes and at peace for the first time in a week he fell asleep.

Taylor's eyes flew open and she could see the first bright glow of the sun as it rose above the trees in the Forbidden forest. Sitting back from her awkward position against the Hufflepuff's bed, she saw that he was curled on his side facing her and that his head was laying only a few inches from where hers had been. The first tender feelings that he had been nearly cuddling with her fled, as fear and dread chased them away as the thought of what would have happened if he had awoken first and found her here like this raced through her mind. Quickly pulling the invisibility cloak over her she gently pulled her hand out from under his and stood kicking the pillow she had been kneeling on under his bed to use tonight. Quickly she backed away from the bed as he began to stir. She retreated to stand by the screen and wait for the Hufflepuff to wake up and for Pomfrey to unlock the door so she could leave.

She watched silently not daring to hardly breath as the Hufflepuff suddenly sat up and looked carefully all around, his eyes passing over where she was standing several times. Slowly he lay back down as Pomfrey came out of her office to unlock the door and check on her patient. Taylor took that opportunity to leave and quietly let herself out of the Hospital, unaware that a pair of blue eyes caught the slight shift in shadows and knew that she had left.

Taylor sat in the Great Hall eating her lunch with her brother and the others. The Gryffindor quidditch team had practiced that Saturday morning and were now sitting together at the long table eating, Hermione and Taylor were sitting next to them. The team was talking about quidditch of course but Taylor wasn't listening.

She had gone to the library from the hospital that morning to get the book Greg needed for Ancient Runes and then she had returned to the common room to see her brother and the rest of the team heading out to practice. She had been tired but she knew she couldn't sleep, so she had gotten her schoolwork and set about trying to get some of the backlog caught up. Her mind all week hadn't been on schoolwork and her grades were suffering because of it.

Absently Taylor played with the spoon in her soup. She was trying to find her courage to take the book up to the Hospital Wing. A thousand excuses popped into her head. She had more homework to do. She should spend some time with her brother and friends. The Hufflepuff might be resting. Finch Fletchly might be waiting outside the hospital doors again. Her shoelace was broken and she should fix it. All sounded hollow in her own mind and reeked of cowardice. A voice spoke quietly in her ear.

"Hey what's wrong? Are you okay?"

Taylor looked up from where she had been staring at her soup and saw her brother's worried green eyes not far from hers. She swallowed and tried to shake herself out of her own thoughts as she answered tiredly, "Yeah, I'm fine, just a little tired I guess."

Her brother's green eyes searched hers and she could tell he didn't believe her but he said, "Why don't you come down to the pitch after lunch and we can go flying again. I happen to know no one has booked it. Come on it'll be fun"

Taylor shook her head, as she fought the wave of memories that assailed her. "No, not today. I've got to take a book up to Greg."

Harry sat back a little more from where he had been leaning right down next to her and his eyes searched her face slowly. When he spoke his voice was carefully controlled, "I think the Hufflepuff can make out for the afternoon without you. What is going on any way? I've never seen you so… upset. You haven't been yourself all week. You can't keep going night after night without any sleep. He must realize you're walking around about like a zombie."

"I'll be fine really." She gave her brother a weak smile. "I just don't feel like flying today. Besides he needs me at night, I can't, not go."

Her brother could see the uncertainty in her eyes change to determination and knew there was no use arguing. "All right. Tonight then, we can play a game of exploding snap or something okay?"

Taylor could see her brother wasn't pleased but he was giving her some time. Tonight though she knew he was going to want some answers. She needed to go to see the Hufflepuff now, so that she'd have time to… compose herself before she faced her brother again.

"Sure Harry, that sounds like fun."

By the tightening around his eyes and the slight thinning of his lips, she knew she hadn't quite made her reply sound convincing.

A/N So Lupin had a "talk" with Greg... I could see Lupin being angry about the way the Hufflepuff was acting. Sure he could understand what Greg was going through but he could also see that the way he was handling it wasn't doing anyone any good. Of course I think I'd be a little intimidated too if an angry werewolf came and snapped at me like that! (that would go for how Lupin talked to Greg and how Greg was acting as well) So what do you think? Was that enough of a kick in the butt to make someone see reason? Hopefully it is believable.

Poor Taylor though... I think the reason she has taken what is happening with Greg so hard is that(and it isn't really stated in the story) she blames herself for Greg being bitten... because he was with her. That is an awful burden to have to carry. So now Harry is going to want to know what is going on... good thing Taylor doesn't break down easily or she might do more then just cut her hair off! I could see her doing that, like she did before Christmas as a way to punish herself. I don't think Taylor has very high self esteem, sure she is confident in her magic but socially she struggles. Well hope you liked it or at least didn't hate it!

THANK YOU to all of you who took the time to review the last chapter! WOW! 5 reviews for one chapter! Made me grin from ear to ear! :D Thank you as well to those who Alerted or Favorited this story! And to those who read this far... THANK YOU! Thank you to my wonderful beta, barbc... as one of you commented that there were errors in my A/N well I will have to accept all those because I write them just before I post a chapter, but in the story, barbc and I try VERY hard to make sure there are no spelling and as few as possible grammer errors. If you see any please let me know! Thanks! Well until next time, cytpotter.