Tara's POV
Hundreds of students flooded past the gates of Hogwarts as we all went back in. I saw the Durmstrang and let go of Sirius's hand with a tiny scream of happiness to see my friends from the north again. I ran up to them and they turned to me and grinned as I leaped at them one by one with huge hugs. After I finally hugged the last one (gods there was a lot of them) I went to Sirius who had walked over and stood next to him as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. After sitting down, we ate, laughed, talked and joked, until the topic of the break came up.
Gideon and Fabian Prewett, who I had met along with their little sister Molly had asked me the question.
"How was your break Tara?"
A silence went over the table. The Durmstrang students had been notified that I had been injured over break and they definitely didn't want to mention it, in case I became defensive suddenly. Lily, Sirius, Remus, Tonks(who had taken to sitting at the table with us), and James were all paralyzed in fear of my reaction.
I just shrugged and said," Can't remember most of it, honestly. I was out for... Three day? Right Sirius?"
He nodded.
The twins, brutally blunt as usual, quickly asked," What happened?"
Molly smacked them both over the head(earning me a whole lot more respect for her) and hissed," You don't just ask a question like that you idiots. She could be traumatized." She looked at me," Sorry about them Tara. You don't have to tell us if you don't want to."
I laughed and waved her off," Molly, Molly. It's fine. No need to attempt to kill your brothers over here. I was injured fighting against some Death Eaters and a snake. The snake caught me off guard after I blew up the wall. I made a stupid mistake. Happens sometimes. But it does earn you some nice scars. Gonna have this one for a while."
I lifted my shirt up to show the pink- white scar on my stomach. Probably would be another month or two before it went away. Fortunately, it wasn't swimsuit season. Molly gasped at the sight.
"Oh you poor thing!"
I chuckled," I think it's neat. It kind of looks like a cat."
I went on to point out the whiskers, nose and ears of the cat before stopping when food appeared on the table. I licked my lips at the sight of the food. Boy was I hungry. I had spent the whole day before working out and passed out after that, making me miss dinner and breakfast. I had flown here so there still wasn't any food for me. Which was unfortunate. I dug into the mashed potatoes and steak and ate quickly and not so politely. Hey I was hungry. After receiving several judging looks I finally finished and sat back munching on a piece of chocolate that had appeared with the dessert.
We all happily skipped up to the Gryffindor tower, where I had taken to sleeping in the girl's dormitory with Molly, Marlene and Lily. Tired and ready to go to bed, the girls and I sleepily made our way up the stairs. I laid down on the bed that I had conjured and was out like a light.
It was about midnight when someone woke me up by opening and closing the door. I sat up quietly and recognized who it was.
"Sirius? Are you okay?"
He walked over to me shaking his head," I just had to make sure you were okay."
I looked at him quizzically," Why?"
"Just a nightmare I had. I already made sure the guys were fine, I just had to come over here to make sure you were fine."
I sighed and scooted over in my bed," Come here."
He looked at me, confused," Not to offend you or anything but why?"
I yawned," Because I don't need you continuously waking me up tonight. Come here and go to sleep."
I caught a flash of teeth as he smiled and whispered," Alright."
Once he got under the covers I scooted closer and laid my head on his chest as he wrapped his arms around my waist. I laid an arm over his well muscled stomach and calmly waited for his breathing to even out. Then I slowly drifted off breathing in his scent.
Lily's POV
I woke up and, rubbing my eyes, headed for a shower. After I got out of the shower was when I noticed them. Molly and Marlene were quietly awwing at the two of them. Tara's head rested on his chest and his face was buried in her hair. They both looked so peaceful and calm. I grinned and, after slipping back into my pajamas because we sixth years didn't have class today, ran over to the boy's dormitory and woke James up. He woke up and rubbed his eyes before putting his glasses on after stabbing himself in the eye with them. He yawned and squinted.
"That my shirt Lils?"
I nodded and grabbed his hand, dragging him out of bed and up to the girl's dorm to show him Sirius and Tara who were still asleep. James sighed and smiled softly at them before looking down at me.
"They're cute."
I nodded," They are."
I stood on my tip toes and gave him a quick kiss before we walked down to the common room and sat on the couch sharing a few kisses and talking.
James's POV
I was glad that Lily had left Remus sleeping. He was going to need all of his strength for tonight. Tonight was the full moon and his transformation would come as soon as the moon came out. He dreaded these days and always fought against Sirius, Peter and I from coming. But we always insisted. Tonight, hopefully, would run smoothly. Last month had been difficult. Lily had been told finally and I was positive that Tara already knew in one way or another. She was weird like that. Lily decided to help us with wounds but I made sure that she didn't go out there with us.
Now, however, I was sitting on the couch just cuddling with her. She and I were talking a little bit but I knew that she too was thinking of tonight.
Tara's POV
I woke up around one in the afternoon, laying on Sirius' chest in the girls' dorm. I smiled as his eyes began to flutter open.
He grinned down at me and said quietly," I would take you out on a date tonight but I think you understand why I can't. How about we make our first date this coming up weekend?"
I grinned and nodded," Sounds good to me."
We got up and I let Sirius step on the stairs first so that it created a slide. We slid down quickly and found James and Lily on the couch talking and cuddling. I wrinkled my nose at them. So sappy and... adorable. Remus was sitting in a chair attempting not to fall asleep on Tonk's shoulder. He wasn't looking good at all. I could smell the werewolf in him growing stronger as the full moon neared. Sirius and I sat down near them on another couch.
A few hours passed and soon Madame Pomfrey came to get Remus for his turning at around seven. They hurried down to the Whomping Willow. Before Peter, Sirius and James followed Sirius turned to me.
He gripped me by the shoulders," Sit this one out Tara. Please."
I nodded," Okay but if I hear, see or smell something wrong, I will be there."
He nodded and they headed off. Lily and I sat up in the girl's dorm by the window, which I had opened to let the sounds and scents roll in. Lily clearly couldn't distinguish the difference between the smell of the air outside and inside. She had rolled her eyes at me.
Lily's POV
Tara had been lying on her bed waiting up with me for the boys when suddenly her head snapped up. Her nostrils flared and her ears twitched as she heard and smelled something different that I couldn't sense.
"No," she whispered. "No."
I looked at her," What's wrong?"
She looked at me and for the second time in my life I saw panic in her eyes.
She tore to her trunk where she ripped out a pair of black skin tight pants and a black skin tight shirt. She loaded herself with weapons as soon as she was dressed. Then took a running start at the window and dove out before I could shout. I saw her flying. Without Tide or anything. Towards the Whomping Willow. Where the monsters were waiting for her. I guessed they were from the Greek side of things because I didn't recognize them at all. She brought out blades and they sparked with electricity. Then they attacked.
Tara's POV
At first it was easy. Cutting down monsters left and right was easy. I sent a streak of lightning through several of the monsters, most of them Greek. Hundreds were converging on the tree. I was the only thing standing in between them and my friends. And I would happily die for my friends.
Lunge left, lunge right. Pirouette, stab, slice. A monster ripped a wound into my ribs. I growled but turned and sliced his head clean off. I roundhouse kicked a monster in the back, at the same time flicking my ankle, sending out a knife to kill it before retracting it back into my boot. I stabbed another monster, not bothering to watch it explode into golden dust. I twirled my blades around as they retreated for a moment and got into a defensive position. I stood alone. I would die for my friends.
A smirk came onto my face as they attacked with more strength than ever. I stabbed two in the chest at once, whipped around and sent a strike of lightning through another. Broke the neck of one creeping up on me. The sun started to come up. My leg stung from an arrow wound. Blood dripped into my eyes from a wound right on my hair line. Five or so of my ribs were definitely broken. My shoulder had been dislocated twice already and both arms had small scratches all over them. I flicked my wrist and a set of lasers sliced most of the rest of the monster in half. A few were left. Two advanced on me and began to dodge and attack me. Suddenly I felt a piercing pain in my lower back. A bloodcurdling scream involuntarily left my lips. I spun a quick circle and chopped their heads off. And fell to my knees feeling the knife in my back. There were three more monsters. One came up and I quickly beheaded it feeling myself become sluggish as I did so. The other stabbed me right below my collar bone. I slit his throat. The last one I thought weakly. A hydra. I took out my gun knowing I had one bullet. One shot. I fired. And hit it directly in the heart. I thought I would pass out but of course I didn't. I stumbled to the entrance where I sat and gripped the tree before slowly removing the knife from my back. It had to come straight out otherwise I could potentially injure myself more. I held back a scream as it slid from my hand and onto the ground. I wrapped a piece of my ripped shirt around it. I leaned my forehead against the tree breathing heavily. I slowly stretched my leg out and ripped the arrow out and wrapped it as well. I had left my wand up in the girl's dorm as it turned out. A small bolt was sticking out from under my collar bone. I examined it after pulling it out. A tracker. I crushed it with the Whomping Willow. My back wound was bleeding badly. I could feel it. I bit down on my tongue, trying to ignore the pain. Man these past weeks had been hard. I pressed my face against the tree and breathed in it's earthy scent. I could smell the dust and blood that coated the area behind me and sighed.
"Apollo," I whispered," I need your help."
He appeared beside me," You must be truly desperate- Holy shit Tara!!!"
I had rotated myself to lean against the tree. I shifted so I could look at him. My eyelids were starting to droop. I could feel it. I fought back. I wouldn't die this way. I slumped painfully to the side. Apollo grabbed me and laid me down on the ground before leaning over me and beginning his work. My eyes closed.
Sirius's POV
I woke up after a long night with Remus the werewolf and woke the others up. We sleepily walked out of the Whomping Willow to see a man bending over somebody. The field in front of us was covered in blood and dust. I looked closer at the person the man was bending over and recognized her. Tara. I raced over and looked at the man. His eyes were narrowed and focussed just on her. He dropped some sort of juice onto her wounds which healed over almost instantly. Tara's eyes opened and looked at me. They blinked once, twice before she slowly turned over, revealing the second worst wound I'd ever seen. The wound had bled all over her back. The man sucked in a breath and his hands started to glow with a golden light.
He didn't look at me but said," Look away."
I did so. When he said it was fine the wound was mostly healed. He helped her up and I immediately took her other shoulder helping to hoist her up. James took the mans' place. Without a sound, the man disappeared in a flash of light. Leaving us to hoist a half conscious Tara Potter up the hill.
On the way up she was making drunken sounding jokes such as," Am I have conscious or half unconscious? We shall never know!" And then bursting into raucous laughter.
We had finally managed to haul her into the girl's dorm(don't ask how we got up there it's top secret) when she saw Lily," Lily! My dear red head friend. Does it seem to you a bit drafty in here?"
Lily came up to her and placed her hands on Tara's feverish face," Tara dear. How would you like to play a game?"
Tara looked at her with unfocussed eyes and muttered happily," I like games."
"Okay how about we play the Go To Sleep Game? Doesn't that sound fun!?"
Tara looked confused and furrowed her eyebrows, shaking her head like a child," But the sun's up. We sleep in it leaves so it can't watch us in bed. Apollo's very pervy. Did he heal me?"
I nodded," He did."
She looked at me before squinting and leaning away from me and then leaning back in really close," There's, like seven of you."
"Yeah well if you go to sleep there won't be seven of me any more."
She looked at me, confused, before nodding," Oh okay. Night."
She was asleep in an instant.
A/N Here you go guys!!!