Another chapter, guys! Welcome back! I hope you all like it, because we all know what's in it, unfortunately. This is heavy angst, just as a warning.

Sirius couldn't breathe though his nose, so he made the most awful of noises through his mouth as he watched with dread Severus Snape walk closer to him, wand in hand and with his guard up even though he carried the smuggest grin in his disgusting lips.

"So that's who Luna Lupin has been sleeping with before dear Regulus," Severus said, looking at the corridor where Luna had disappeared to, stomping in anger. "Even that you have before him. I wonder if he knows."

"That's none of your fucking business, Snivellus," Sirius said through his teeth, unsure if moving was a good idea.

His wand was in his back pocket. If he made any movement to get it, Snape would probably attack him before he could get it. If a fight was to come, he would certainly lose with the disadvantage of being caught so out of rhythm. Without support or a crowd, Sirius wasn't as confident as he could be.

"Though I think your brother is the least of your problems, am I right?" Snape said, raising his eyebrows as he watched Sirius' stiff reactions. "Your boyfriend might be angrier about that."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Sirius asked, rolling his eyes.

"We all know Remus Lupin and you will certainly end up together at some point, then you can go and destroy him," Snape said.

Sirius stepped away from him, annoyed and eager to anywhere else where Snape wouldn't follow. "I really don't understand what you're trying to say or how this is any of your business," Sirius grumbled.

Snape raised his wand slightly, not to attack, but to point at something that Sirius couldn't see in his own face.

"Your lips can lie, but your face cannot," Severus Snape smiled at him.

Disgusted by the sight, Sirius crossed his arms in front of his chest, wanting to put some space in between them. He hated the image of Severus smiling so openly to him, as if he had done something good to him.

"Try finding a girlfriend for yourself and leave my love life alone, prat," Sirius said.

Still, though Sirius' anger grew, so did Snape's amusement over whatever he could see in Sirius' face. His grin was horrible, his calmness was perturbing. Sirius wanted nothing more than to throw a punch, but that was a fight that he knew he would lose, so he stood and watched as Snape slowly lowered his wand to point it to Sirius' stomach.

"I wonder if your little friends know about that girl. I mean, James Potter certainly does. He's the type to keep your dirty secrets, anything to be beloved, so I'm sure he doesn't want the truth to slip out either. Perhaps I should let Lupin know the company he's been keeping," Snape said. "Your little secret might have been enjoyable for a while, but not it'll come to back to bite you in the arse."

Sirius tried his best to swallow down his fear, allowing just anger to cause a dangerous glint into his narrowing eyes. Anger that needed to be masked to keep on showing in his face, because the idea caused such sudden happiness that it was hard to stop himself from laughing at the fear that he knew Severus Snape would soon feel – enough for him to leave them all alone, enough for them all to be safe from his curiosity.

"Severus," he said the boy's first name with such sweetness that it tasted like venom, "before you run off with my little secret, perhaps you should consider a bigger one having a bigger impact."

The biggest and most natural weakness in someone as academically focused as Severus Snape was his curiosity. It wasn't hard to wake it up, it was even easier to see it on his face whenever he heard something interesting.

"What are you talking about?" Severus pretended to be confused.

"I've seen you stalking around, lurking in the corridors as if you were a bat in the ceiling," Sirius said. "I've seen your research and watched your suspicions forming. You think you know a secret because I slept with someone I shouldn't? I would think a Slytherin like yourself would be more ambitious – there are always bigger secret, darker... furrier."

Severus' eyes glistened.

Just one scare and he would be marked for life. One scare and he and his friends would have peace.

"Are you –" Severus stopped himself.

"You know the answer to all of it already, but you're curious either way, aren't you?" Sirius said. "You've been keeping a close eye on me and my friends, watching, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. What are you waiting for?"

"You know what I wait for."

"The moon."

"The moon," Severus agreed, nodding.

"Your answer will be had by the moon, then," Sirius said. "Do you know where to find me?"

"I know where to find you, I see you walking through the grounds before the moon as if you don't care if anyone sees you," Severus said. "But I don't know where to find the werewolf."

Sirius stepped back as casually as he could.

"...who said anything about werewolves?" he said, sounding as aloof as he possible could. "I'm talking about my own furry problem. Well, you know where to find me, don't you? Then it's done."

He pretended not be shaking and nauseated as he forced himself to turn his back to his enemy and walk away, humming a song under his breath to keep his steps on the beat, otherwise he was sure that his knees would give out.

Sirius hoped he had done the correct choice.

It was Severus Snape, after all. He was a Slytherin. Half a truth would be enough for him to gather information enough. He wouldn't even show up; he would most likely run to Dumbledore, who already knew everything and would find a way to silence him.

Certainly, it was the correct choice. It protected both secrets at once.

He was wrong.

Luna Lupin rarely ever woke up before morning. If she went to sleep, usually she would only wake up the next day, not always rested, but certainly with enough sleep, otherwise she wouldn't sleep at all.

The only moment she would wake up was when something bad happened.

Let it be Pandora screaming her head off due to some nightmare, let it be because she was feeling so unwell that one of the girls had woken her up to see if she was alright because of her moaning and whimpering of pain. Let it be because Professor Flitwick had told the girls to wake her up.

Amanda looked pale and wide-eyed as she woke Luna, poking her rib and whispering her name time and time again so not to wake everybody else in the room.

"What?" Luna asked, eyes running to Pandora's bed immediately. Pandora still slept soundly. "Amanda, I'm really not feeling well, what do you want?"

It was full moon night and the first one that Luna felt well enough not to stay in the Hospital Wing, she regretted it now that Amanda was interrupting her sleep, but she had been proud of her body for fighting the infection just enough to make her tired and weak, but not sick. Still, she was completely awake when she saw Amanda's frown, looking almost too much like pity for her liking.

"What is it?" Luna asked, sitting up at once.

"Professor Flitwick sent me up to wake you. Your brother's really sick, they'll transfer him to St. Mungus," Amanda said. "They called for your father. He wants you there as well. You need to go now."

Before Amanda could step away, Luna was standing beside her bed, reaching for her coat, putting it on over her shorts and tank-top, it covered her torso and arms – most importantly, it covered her scars, her naked legs were covered by nothing other than her short shorts. She stumbled forward, going to the door while blowing hair out of her face.

For the first time in years, she didn't braid her hair before leaving her dormitory.

"Professor?" she called out from the stairs.

"Miss Lupin!" Professor Flitwick said, eyes stuck on her. "Finally!"

"My brother? What happened to my brother?"

He looked behind her, seeing Amanda at the top of the stairs, curious and concerned over her colleague's situation.

"It'll be explained in the Hospital Wing," he said, looking back at Luna. "Mister Lupin's health is declining, and the guardians have been called. Your father it is stopping by your mother's house to get her to come here since we can't reach her through anything other than letters. He's on his way here."

As they ran through the Ravenclaw Tower and out of it, through the stairs, Professor Flitwick slowed down. Luna, already struggling to breathe due to running, turned to him looking as pale as the full moon had been.

"What happened to my brother?" she asked, eyes watering. "Why aren't you telling me anything? The sun's coming up, he's already human. What happened to my brother, please?"

Flitwick looked away before answering. "Mister Lupin has attacked another student. He and his friends are in the Hospital Wing."

Luna sobbed loudly, the noise escaping her mouth before she realised that she was crying.

Though Remus was straightforward and somewhat curt with her, he had always been a gentle boy. Violence had never struck his liking unless in sudden werewolf-related anger bursts, and still he tried his best to stay in control over it as well. He hated the idea of becoming the monster that people already thought he was; his biggest fear was becoming like the one that turned him into what he was, and therefore his worst nightmare was biting someone else, turning them into the thing he hated the most: himself.

"Did he bite them?" she whimpered.

"No. Nobody was bit, but Mister Potter was scratched quite deeply," the professor answered. "They all will be fine. We are waiting for Lord and Lady Potter to see if they'll want to transfer Mister Potter to St. Mungus or if they are content with Madame Pomfrey's care."

Luna shook her head, going back to walking, but calmer this time and trying to control her breathing.

As they walked through the corridors, Luna tried to find some comfort in the sweet smell of early morning dew flooding in through the windows and stone. Dew meant morning, and morning meant that the sun was coming, which meant that her brother was just that... her brother. And yet, she cried the whole way to the Hospital Wing, but silently.

Professor Flitwick accompanied her the best he could; her legs were longer than his and his steps were not nearly as hurried as hers. She clearly was eager to see her brother and make sure that he was well, and he admired that.

She opened the double doors.

Professor McGonagall was standing in the corridor between the two rows of beds, still in her sleeping clothes and with her hands on her hips. On the row of the left, bathed in the growing sunlight, Remus slept soundly and still. Standing beside him were a crying Peter Pettigrew and a pale Sirius Black. On the bed beside Remus, further away from the door, was James Potter, pale and still, but sitting up wit his legs to the side of the bed. Madame Pomfrey was right behind him, throwing potion after potion in his open and bleeding wound. On the right row of beds, Severus Snape was sitting, but he seemed the least put together – he was pale, shaking and had a vomit bin beside his bed.

Luna couldn't hold herself back.

"WHO THE FUCK WAS THE STUPID FUCKER THAT ALMOST KILLED MY FUCKING BROTHER?" she yelled.

Flitwick made a squeaky noise out of surprise. McGonagall stared at her with her mouth open in surprise; it took her a second to recover.

"Miss Lupin, your brother needs rest, so please, lower your voice," Madame Pomfrey said before any of the professors could scold her.

"My brother's not sleeping, he's unconscious," Luna said. She stared right at Madame Pomfrey. "You always try to make me believe that he's sleeping, but I'm quite aware that I could slap him in the face and he wouldn't twitch."

Madame Pomfrey focused on James Potter's wound again, trying to close it.

"Miss Lupin, has Professor Flitwick informed what occurred?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"He said that Remus attacked someone," Luna said, cleaning her tears. Severus made a noise. Luna turned to him. "Was it you?"

"Yes, that monster attacked me," Severus said, bitterly.

Luna stepped forward. McGonagall tried to step forward as well, ready to hold her back if needed.

"That monster's sister will throttle you if you as much as dare to think of telling anyone anything," she threatened.

"Miss Lupin, you can't threaten another student!" Professor Flitwick said, shocked.

Luna didn't look away from Severus, who looked paler than before, but angrier than ever.

She took a deep breath before turning to McGonagall. "You said that he would be safe here. You came into our house when my family refused his spot in the school and promised us that this would never happen. You said that he would be safe. You said that the other students would be safe!"

Sirius got up.

"It was not his fault!" he exclaimed.

Luna turned to him. "Then whose fault was this?" she asked, voice dangerous.

The answer was on the shame in his face.

He looked down, bashful and disgusted with himself. He wouldn't dare to as much as meet her eyes because he wasn't worth of that. Luna had always treated him so kindly, was always so understanding of his conditions and hesitance, and yet he had betrayed her and her brother out of fear and pettiness.

Luna's lip wobbled.

"No..." she begged.

"Luna –"

"No!" she exclaimed, taking a step backwards.

She covered her face with her hands.

"Mister Black, please, step away from her," Professor Flitwick said, fearing Luna's reaction to the information.

If there was any feeling for Sirius left in her, it died right then and there. Any desire, any love, any tenderness, any friendship died and rotted right in front of everybody in that Hospital Wing. When she lowered her hands and looked at him, lip curling – either in anger or disgust; he wasn't sure.

"Why?" she asked.

He looked down, glancing at everybody else in the room.

"Can we talk about this some other time?" he asked.

"No!"

Through the open doors, someone cleared their throat. It was Dumbledore, standing in the doorway and watching the scene unfold in front of him.

"If I'm rather sincere, I'm as interested in your reason as Miss Lupin, Mister Black," Dumbledore admitted, cooly. He wasn't happy with Sirius, that much as clear, and it was the first time that he had expressed it so clearly. "How does one get to the point of thinking such prank would be funny?"

"I didn't think he would really show up!" Sirius tried to defend himself.

"That's a lie!" Severus Snape screamed from where he was sitting. "Why would you tell me if you didn't want me to show up? You were trying to kill me!"

"I was trying to get you to shut up!" Sirius said. "If you shut up and didn't talk shit, you wouldn't be here."

"Oh, wow, what a great explanation about how you almost ended my brother's life!" Luna said.

"Moony would've been fine!" Sirius insisted.

"HE WOULDN'T! HE WOULD NEVER FORGIVE HIMSELF IF SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED!" Luna yelled. Madame Pomfrey scolded her again, but her voice was drowned out by Luna's continuous speaking. "How will you explain to your friend that you almost killed someone else using the part of him that he hates the most because you were annoyed about something that a boy did?!"

Severus scoffed.

"He wasn't annoyed. He was scared," Severus corrected. Luna looked at him, confused by what he said. She raised her eyebrows. "I'd think he would've talked to you. You were the one involved in the secret as well." Luna felt her stomach drop as he grew weaker, stomach churning. She understood everything so suddenly that her knees shook under her. "Oh, there you go. Now you know. You were that embarrassing to him."

Luna felt like she couldn't breathe. Her nausea was becoming a weight on her chest, pressing her lungs against her back. Her ears were ringing so loud that she couldn't hear Sirius talking to her, putting his hand on her shoulders, and turning her away from Severus Snape – there was a part of her that knew that Snape was right, and that was what hurt her the most. All confidence that she was building seemed to crumble at her feet.

Exposed. That was what she was feeling. She felt naked, inappropriate and disgusting. She felt like everybody could see everything about her.

"Luna?" Sirius tried to call her again.

Professor McGonagall stepped between them, leading her away and trying to talk to her.

"M-My chest," she managed to choke out.

"Poppy!" McGonagall called out.

Madame Pomfrey looked at James, who now was holding a bandage in place around his chest while she stopped the bleeding on the cuts on his back. He nodded at her, eyes stuck on Luna and only seeing the woman healing him by the corner of his eyes, giving her permission to leave him.

"Mister Black, get me my silver extract in liquid. Now!" Madame Pomfrey screamed.

Severus' eyes widened.

"Oh, is she another one?" he asked, surprised.

"Clearly not, you daft prat!" James spat towards him.

"Mister Potter!" Professor Flitwick tried to scold, but he was too worried with the girl to care.

Sirius dropped two glass vials as he found the silver extract and didn't seem to care as he ran with it to the Healer. He gave her the flask while shaking, seeing her open Luna's coat to reveal the tank-top that left the top of her scars open to the public, making her drink the extract while putting a salve on her chest, hoping it would help her breathe and calm her heart down with the smell.

Peter gasped, seeing the scars for the first time. James jumped from the bed, stumbling due to the blood loss.

"Fuck," Peter grumbled.

Like the gashes on his back, Luna had some appearing on her cleavage. James couldn't look away from the paler skin, raised in bumps where the claws had tried to tear her apart – it was old enough for it to be almost the same colour as her skin, had it not been for the salve turning her skin red, but slowing her heart.

"Back in bed, Mister Potter," Dumbledore said, looking away from Luna. "Everything here stays in between us. Mister Snape, come with me. We are going to my office."

Snape got up, leaving the vomit bin in the corner of the bed, and following the man out of the Hospital Wing. He felt like he could breathe better when he was away from the group's sights, even if Dumbledore didn't look back to see if he was following. It was still better than the way things were inside the wing.

And, in the Wing, Luna shook.

"You almost killed someone," she cried.

Sirius stood near her bed, unsure of what to do. Any word, any move he did next would be horrible.

"I didn't think he would show up. I thought that he'd go to Dumbledore about his suspicions, he would find a way to shut him up. If he was focused on that secret, then he would forget our," he tried to explain.

"Your secret! It was never mine. I never minded, you did," she said.

Madame Pomfrey made a noise.

"Miss Lupin, please, you need to calm down. You cannot exert yourself right now," she said, voice firm, but eyes nervous. "Your heart cannot take it at the moment."

Sirius took a step back, eyes widening nervously. He had created trouble before, but that night seemed to grow and grow, attacking him and burying him in his own mistakes like an avalanche. He had almost killed someone, he had almost fucked up Remus' life, and now his mere presence was enough to cause such a strain in Luna's heart that she was making an experienced Healer nervous.

Flitwick was ushering James back to bed because he had jumped out of it again, trying to get closer to Luna. Peter stood near McGonagall, eyes so wide that they seemed ready to jump off his face – he had just found out that Luna had scars that looked far too much like Remus, but he was completely sure that she wasn't a werewolf; she had been attacked, but not bit... he wondered by whom.

Luna sobbed.

"You are a terrible friend, Sirius Black!" she accused. "How could you do this?"

Sirius stumbled back, turning to go to the small private room that Luna had bathed in before, he needed to get away. He walked right into Flitwick; he almost fell to the side.

Luna forced herself to sit up.

"Look at my brother! Look at him and know that you almost made his worst nightmare come true and wonder if you deserve him, if you have been a good enough friend to him after everything you did!" she exclaimed, ignoring the shushing that Madame Pomfrey was doing. "LOOK AT ME!"

Sirius' eyes were stuck on her as he struggled to breathe through the tears that were gathering in his eyes.

"Luna –" he started.

"Look at me and tell me that killing someone was a better option that letting people know you fucked me," she hissed.

Madame Pomfrey winced at the venom in Luna's tongue, looking over her shoulder lightly to make sure that Sirius was well enough, because the next second Luna's body went limp on her arms. She made a little noise as she guided the girl to lie down.

Luna was still conscious, just weak. The potion and the salve usually made her limp and disorientated for a few minutes, usually making her babble – it had taken longer than usual to take effect.

In the awkward silence, Sirius stood where he was as if he was a marble statue – still, pale and completely blank in the face. James got up from the bed he had been sitting in and walked around Flitwick (who was holding Sirius by the back of the shirt, trying to not let him fall down), and led Sirius to the side, sitting him on a bed. Peter just stared at Luna, silently, terrified. McGonagall took a deep breath as she saw Luna's chest going up and down in a deep, controlled breath.

Madame Pomfrey sat in the chair nearest to the siblings' beds to take a deep breath, which was cut short.

Remus Lupin had his eyes open.

"Mister Lupin!" she said, sigh of relief clear in her voice.

His eyes moved away from Luna, going to Sirius on the row across from him, who started crying as soon as he realised that his friend had heard some of the discussion by the resigned eyes. Remus' silent suspicions had just been confirmed about the affair between his best friend and his sister – the suspicions that he had tried to ignore and deny to himself whenever Sirius' eyes lingered or Luna looked cooly around, as if the boy that she had a crush on was not nearby. They had broken up, that much was clear.

Sirius had been the boyfriend that left Luna in that horrible state.

And then his eyes stopped at James' bandaged and ruddy back.

"I hurt you," he choked out.

James turned, eyes down at the ground as he fixed his glasses. He took a deep breath before wearing his best smile.

"It was nothing. I could've gotten that by falling off my broom," he dismissed his friend's worry. "I'm fine."

"It'll scar," Remus mumbled.

Madame Pomfrey shook her head, shushing him. "Don't talk too much right now, dearest. You are weak for now. Your parents are coming, alright? You got hurt tonight. We need to decide if you're going to the hospital."

It was a lot of effort to turn his head to her.

"No hospital," he said.

"It's not your decision, it's your parents'," she answered, sounding genuinely sorry. She knew that he hated going to the hospital. "It'll be good. Your sister needs to get checked out as well."

He looked at his sister.

His stomach dropped.

In this angle, he could see the scars clearly. Scars that he had gotten glimpses of, but had never truly seen.

Scars of a werewolf attack that he did not know happened.

"Luna –" he whispered, trying to get up.

"No, Mister Lupin, you must stay in bed!" McGonagall said, helping Madame Pomfrey pull him back to his bed. "Miss Lupin will be well, don't worry about her right now. You must worry about yourself."

His mouth tasted bitter. His sister had been attacked by a werewolf, that much was clear; the scars were just like his own – and he never knew something so important. What else could he be unaware about her?

Her first boyfriend was his best friend, and he had broken her heart, then gone to eat dinner beside Remus as if nothing had happened. Her scars had been from an attack he had no memory of, and now – suddenly – her symptoms certainly sounded familiar enough, patterned enough. How could he have been so blind?!

Remus' eyes went to Sirius.

"Go," he said, voice weak.

Sirius whimpered.

"Moony, please –"

"Go," Remus said again, voice slightly firmer. "Go and don't talk to me ever again."

Sirius turned to James, looking for support, but the boy was staring at his own bare feet, refusing to meet his eyes.

McGonagall turned to them.

"Mister Black, it would be for the best if you went back to the dormitories for now," she said.

He looked around before pressing his lips together and nodding slowly, more to himself than to answer the professor. It was the first time that Sirius felt that everybody hated him. There was no signal of warmth or understanding anywhere around him, just plain contempt and disappointment. He swallowed down on a dry throat.

It was their own fault anyway, they shouldn't have expected anything good from him, after all he was a Black. Disappointment, betrayal... it was all in his blood.

Luna had been right. At the end of the day, everything had ended terribly and he had been left with nobody on his corner. And he wondered, mentally berating himself, if some people were just born to be alone. Because if there was a thing such as destiny, he knew he would never have anyone at all. If he couldn't have his friends (his lover, his brothers) he would never want to have anybody else.

As he walked out of the Hospital Wing, he glanced at Luna, unconscious on the hospital bed.

He hoped she didn't need to learn all that the Black Family would be sure to teach her: all the bad things that he was made of.

ANGST! I love it and I hate it at the same time, so I'm sorry about it (and, at the same time, I'm not). I hope you all liked it.

What do you think Regulus' reaction to the aftermath of this will be?