𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀.

twenty eight.

   Jovie poked at her food, wincing slightly in pain when James' elbow nudged her side. James mumbled a sorry, Peter scooting over to whisper something in his ear.

   Lily watched her friends, a frown etched onto her lips. She didn't know what had happened. She woke up one week ago and Jovie was gone. She had come to find out that all of the Marauders plus her friend were in the hospital wing.

   Peter had woken up that day, he had a concussion and some bruising but for the most part he was okay.

   James and Jovie both woke up that night. Jovie now had a scar running horizontally across her face, her arms bandaged from her shoulders to her elbows. James had cracked a rib and had bandages going down his torso.

   Sirius woke up that night as well and had teeth marks in his side.

   Remus was the worst though.

   He was hardly injured, only a few scratches here and there but he had shut down. He wasn't talking, not to anyone. Not even James or Jovie. He did everything in his power to avoid his friends, only sometimes seeing them in the common room.

   Much like Remus, Sirius had been avoiding his friends.

   Mary sighed, "I wonder what happened that night?"

   Alice shook her head, watching her friends, "I don't know but Jovie's not smiling. She's always smiling."

   Jovie pushed her plate away, standing from her seat. She looked frail, bags beneath her eyes and her skin gone pale. James seemed to jump at her movement, looking up at her with wide eyes.

   She ignored this, striding out of the great hall, all eyes on her.

   The moment the door slammed, James stood, following her.

   He followed her all the way to the common room, the girl finally stopping her walk and taking a seat on the couch. She pulled her knees to her chest, running her hands through her curls.

   James stood in front of her, "Jovie..."

   "Tell me what happened so I can fix it."

   "What?"

   She looked up, "tell me exactly what happened so I can fix this! I hate it! I don't want things to be like this between all of us," tears began to fill her eyes, the girl's voice cracking.

   James slowly took a seat, running his hands up and down his jeans. "Remus is a werewolf. He's been a werewolf for years, when we became friends we all became animagus to help him with it. It was pretty fun actually," he gave a soft smile.

   "When Remus is In wolf form he doesn't recognize us, he sees a human and he attacks. That's why we had to become animals."

   Now came the hard part. James took in a deep breath, "when Sirius found out what Snape did to you he couldn't let it go, he just had to do something. So he told Snape where to find us. But Snape being Snape, he brought you as protection."

   Jovie stared straight ahead, fat tears running down her cheeks, "I don't care about that!" she looked James in the eyes, "I wanna go back to being your best friend."

   James froze for a moment before his face contorted, his eyes widening. He pulled the girl into a hug after a moment, letting her cry onto his shoulder.

   "Yeah, let's go back to normal."

* * *

   "Rem! I know you're up here!"

   Jovie grinned as she climbed the steps, popping her head over the railing. She found her friend standing on the balcony, overlooking the entirety of Hogwarts.

   Jovie strode over to be by his side, the boy still making no moves to acknowledge her. Jovie turned to him, "are you mad at me?"

   Remus seemed slightly shocked by this, his eyes widening as he turned to the blonde, "what? No! Of course not! You should be mad at me."

   Jovie grinned, "why would I be mad at you, I'm mad at Snape."

   Remus trailed off, now allowing his eyes to trace over the girl's face. She looked the same, even with the giant scars across her face she looked the exact same.

   Jovie's smile softened slightly, "no one is mad at you Remus, no one sees you any differently. You're still big lovable teddy bear Lupin."

   The tawny haired boy blinked, and then again, and then again, trying desperately to rid the tears from his eyes but it wasn't working.

   He grinned, allowing a tear to escape, "only Jovina Scamander would describe me as a teddy bear."

   Jovie grinned, "well I guess the more accurate term would be some sort of puppy-"

   She stopped her ramble as she stumbled back, Remus wrapping his arms around her in a hug. He pressed his forehead into her golden hair, Jovie feeling her scalp wet with tears.

   She smiled, wrapping her arms around the boy's torso.

   They stood like that for a while, even after Remus was dry of tears. By the time they stood straight again the sun had begun to set and both just wanted to go to sleep.

   Remus wiped at his eyes, "you're a really good hugger."

   Jovie held out her hand, "come on, James saved you some dinner."