A/N. As promised, here's the second chapter of the day! A much longer one this time, moving things forward a bit... or at least moving things to where they were before the incident...

I woke up some time later to the sound of whispering and felt someone gently shaking my shoulder.

"Zara? Zara..."

I recognised Lily's voice.

Was I back in my dorm?

"Zara, it's half past eight, you're still in the hospital wing..."

Opening my eyes, I saw Remus in front of me, lying as still and silent as before.

I felt a cramp in my shoulder. It was no wonder – I had fallen asleep in the chair by Remus' bed, resting my head by his arm and holding his hand.

A quick scan of the patient revealed that his wounds were healing, although the scars would clearly remain severe for some time. There was a little more colour in his face though, which I took to be a good sign. He looked far less comatose than he had earlier, in fact he could have been napping...

"Zara..."

Lily's voice drew my attention away from Remus.

"Lily, I'm sorry, I-"

"Shh, don't worry. Are you alright? I came down to the common room half an hour ago and Sirius told me what happened. He looked pretty shaken up."

I noticed Lily was still in her pyjamas and wrapped in a fluffy red dressing gown which clashed dramatically with her mass of red hair, currently spilling untamed over her shoulders.

"Becky's been here too, she's just gone to fetch you a jumper and a cup of tea".

"Thank you." I grabbed Lily in a hug. When we pulled apart she dragged a chair over and sat down, gripping my hand.

"How is he?"

"Well he looks a little better than earlier. When I first came down here he was... You should have seen him Lily." My voice was beginning to break up.

Lily shook her head. "I can't believe this happened. He doesn't deserve this."

"I just wish I hadn't left him alone yesterday, maybe he wouldn't have ended up in this state."

"You can't say that. There was no way you could have known."

We sat in silence for a short while, until Becky came back in, levitating three steaming mugs of tea in front of her and carrying my woolly Gryffindor jumper. I couldn't help but smile. The previous Christmas my friends and I had decided to take a DIY approach to presents – Becky had knitted me the squishy red jumper, emblazoned with a very cuddly-looking golden lion, which had proved excellent for chilly January Quidditch matches. She knew how much it would cheer me up.

Becky pulled up a chair and the three of us sipped our tea and watched Remus, lost in our own thoughts.

Then it dawned on me – I had been so caught up in my worries that I had completely forgotten what day it was.

" You two should be getting ready for Hogsmeade! Aren't you supposed to leave in an hour?"

"We're not going – we'd rather stay here", said Becky, smiling.

"Yeah, we don't want to leave you here alone", Lily chipped in.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it, but I'm fine, really. A bit shaken, yeah, but I'm okay. I don't want you to miss out, and you can tell me all about it this evening – in fact some gossip would be an excellent distraction"

Lily and Becky looked at each other and then back at me, sceptical expressions on their faces.

"Seriously! You should go. I'm going to stay here till Remus wakes up, it might not be long – Madam Pomfrey said the anaesthetic effects of the potions would start to wear off by morning".

Having established that I was alright and would not back down any time soon, Lily and Becky left.

I looked up at the clock on the wall. Ten past nine. Over four hours had passed since I had first come down here. I grabbed Remus' hand again, and this time I felt him respond.

"Remus. Remus! You're awake!" I jumped up and leant over him, brushing his hair from his forehead.

Two green-grey eyes flickered open and looked up at me.

"Zara?" His voice was hoarse, and he coughed violently, sitting up and holding his stomach as he winced with pain.

I sat on the edge of his bed and held him as he recovered his breath and lay down again.

"Shh, stay still – your wounds are still quite fresh, you don't want to open them again."

I moved back to the chair to give him space, but kept hold of his hand and shuffled closer.

"What happened? I – I remember going into the Shack alone and- and then there was blood an-and then- then I was here and S-Sirius was shouting and then... then there was nothing... What... what happened last night?"

I told him the whole story, watching the anger and hurt spread over his face as I filled him in on his friends' encounter with the Slytherins.

As I finished the story, Remus nodded silently and slowly pulled himself up. I reached over and propped up the pillows behind him.

He settled back against them and turned to look at me.

"Zara I am so sorry-"

"No, I'm sorry"

"I shouldn't-"

"NO. Yesterday was my fault, I was inconsiderate and then... I should have come to find you, but I let you go on thinking I was angry, and then you were on your own and-"

"You had every right to be angry, Zara, I- the way I behaved at breakfast yesterday was appalling. I don't- I shouldn't have spoken to you like that. You of all people..."

He reached out and wiped a tear off my cheek, smiling slightly.

I gripped his hand more firmly. "You know I don't care about the werewolf thing, you know I don't, and- and you were just so determined to push me away."

"I know. And I know you don't care, I do. It's just- sometimes it's easy to let the doubts take over".

"I understand." We shared a smile, and he moved over to let me climb up next to him.

I rested my head on his shoulder, careful not to press on his wounds. "So, are we okay?" I asked hesitantly, turning to nuzzle his neck, relishing the warmth and familiar feel of his arm wrapped around me.

I love him. I love him.

I could feel him smile above me. "Yes, yes, we're okay – if you still want me".

I sat up and kissed him firmly on the mouth. "How could I not? Anyway, I think this new scar down your cheek makes you look especially sexy and mysterious. Sort of dangerous and exciting..."

For a split second I worried I might have said the wrong thing altogether. You called him dangerous? Stupid, stupid girl.

Luckily he took my statement as I meant it and laughed, giving me his best roguish grin before pulling me down for another kiss.

"You want me for my scars now? All about the looks are we?"

"Hmm well, as much as I do enjoy looking at you, I kinda like the whole package. Looks, personality, brain, furry-little-problem – everything. Even the dumb-ass friends that come free with the rest..."

Remus smiled at me in that way that always caused me to melt inside. "I'm glad. Now I just want to get out of here and get back to normal. When can I leave? Did Madam Pomfrey say anything to you?"

"How about I go and fetch her – she'll be wanting to check on you now you're awake anyway."

I kissed him before standing up. "I love you".

"I love you too".

Sure enough Madam Pomfrey wanted to check up on Remus and so she shooed me out of the Hospital Wing.

I positively skipped up to the common room, feeling happier than I would have thought possible at the start of the day. After a bath I changed into jeans and a long-sleeved blue t-shirt and settled down in the common room, nestling into the window alcove with a book. Before long I heard shouting and laughing outside the portrait door, followed by the appearance of Sirius, James and Peter, all of whom were looking significantly more cheerful than when I had last seen them.

"Did you not go to Hogsmeade?" I piped up from the alcove.

Sirius turned around. "Oh, hi Zara! Nope. Well, not officially anyway. We may or may not have had some business in a certain joke shop. And we may or may not have used a variety of devious means to procure certain items from said shop..."

"Hmm, I see. Sounds like fun. I mean, why go on an approved outing with the whole school when you can go to exactly the same place crammed together under an invisibility cloak whilst running the risk of being caught using forbidden passageways out of the school."

James and Sirius looked at each other.

"I say Padfoot, do you think our penchant for troublemaking may have gone too far? Are we becoming trouble junkies?"

"Becoming?"

The pair laughed and settled down in squishy armchairs. As James pulled out a packet of Exploding Snap cards he turned to me.

"We stopped in to see Moony on our way back but we had to leave after ten minutes because Dumbledore wanted a word with him".

Seeing the concern in my face, Sirius spoke up. "He's not in trouble or anything. Why would he be? Dumbledore just likes to check on him every now and again, see how he is. He knows how rough things can be for Remus and I think he worries. Last night being especially bad and all..."

"Anyway, he looks much better doesn't he?" Peter chipped in, smiling. "Pomfrey told him he'd be back up here before dinner."

I spent the afternoon in the Library finishing my DADA homework and pondering just how useful it was to learn Defence by theory alone. It's one thing reading defensive spells on the page and quite another making them work in reality. That's what Remus always said anyway. In fact he had followed it up with a story about Peter's encounter with a boggart while staying with the Potters the previous summer. Hearing the boggart banging around in the kitchen cupboard, Peter decided to face it with the Riddikulus charm. Vampires were Peter's worst fear, and so he planned to entangle the boggart-vampire in a long string of garlic bulbs. Remembering the word "Riddikulus", but having had no practise with the wand movement, he used the wrong gesture entirely and accidentally tied himself up in a string of garlic. Which is how he was found an hour later by Remus and James.

Drawing a careful green line under my essay on 'Grindylows and How to Identify Them', I cleared up my books and inkpot and made my way back to the common room. The hustle and bustle around me as I hurried through the halls indicated that everyone was back from Hogsmeade.

Clambering through the portrait-hole I was greeted by a familiar face and a knee-weakening smile.

"You're back!" I yelped and threw myself into Remus' arms.

"I am", he whispered next to my ear.

Pulling back to look at me he told me he had been coming to find me, as everyone was about to head to the Hall for dinner.

Having dropped my bags into an armchair I paused to look more closely at Remus. He was still a little paler than usual, and no doubt the new scar on his face would attract some curiosity, but apart from that he looked just fine. Well, much better than 'fine'. Positively yummy in fact. He was wearing a dark grey jumper over a white shirt (top buttons open), with a pair of faded, frayed jeans. His sleeves were rolled up a little, showing off his lovely arms. His hair, as always, was falling just into his eyes. Just perfect.

Although after yesterday, and the trauma of last night, he could have been wandering around in house-elf rags and I'd still be ecstatic just to have him here with me again.

"Are you sure you're feeling better?" I looked down at a particularly angry-looking scratch snaking up his right arm and disappearing under his sleeve at the elbow.

He lifted my chin with a finger. "It looks worse than it feels. I'm fine, I promise. It's taken a little longer than usual, but the healing potions worked a charm."

"Good, I'm glad."

Twining my arms around his neck I kissed him. I intended it to be a fleeting peck on the lips, but he quickly deepened the kiss until we were both breathless and I was positively clinging to his shoulders. He smiled wickedly, but as he lowered his lips to mine again we were interrupted by a loud yell of -

"GET A ROOOOOOMMMM!" And several whoops and yells from surrounding Gryffindors.

Taking this as our cue to head down to dinner, we left hand-in-hand, chatting happily all the way to the Hall.