Rose stared up at the ceiling, unwilling to let sleep overtake her. Bellatrix. All she could think about was the witch. And the pain from her spell. And the permanent scar on her arm.

James had his arms wrapped tightly around her abdomen and she was grateful that he had fallen asleep. The bags under his eyes made it clear that he was having trouble and she wouldn't have a repeat of last time. At least he showered.

She felt help shift next to her and she looked down at him. "No," he muttered and she frowned. She brushed the hair that was matted to his forehead away from his face. "Rose."

His eyes were shut but his face was contorted in pain. "James," she tried, "Wake up." He moved but his eyes remained shut. She shifted her position and moved so that her face was aligned with his. "James," she tried again. "Whatever's happening. It's not your fault. It's not real."

"I'm sorry," he mumbled and despite the fact that he was asleep, a tear slipped down his cheek. "Rosie, I'm sorry."

She swiped the tear away with her thumb and rested her forehead against his. "I forgive you," she said, "I will always forgive you." He moved again and she watched him warily, "James?"

"Rose?" he replied and his eyes opened after a moment.

"I'm right here," she informed him as he moved his hand to the side of her face. "I'm okay. Everything's okay."

"No, it's not," he stated, his voice breaking slightly. Her heart broke at the sound and she quickly wiped away another tear that had slipped down his face. "Rose, I'm sorry. I should have done something. I should have-"

"We talked about this already," she reminded him. "There was nothing you could have done."

He closed his eyes for a moment, pressing his forehead closer to hers as though he were trying to make sure she was real and actually there.

She watched him for a moment, scanning his face. She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. He immediately reacted, gently kissing her back as he moved his hand to her hair, holding her closer.

They pulled apart after a moment and she leaned closer to him, her nose brushing against his slightly, "It's not your fault but I forgive you. For everything you did or didn't do. Please don't blame yourself."

He shook his head slightly, "You shouldn't forgive me. I don't deserve it."

"James," she said vehemently. "Don't do that. You're forgiven. I promise to you, you're forgiven. Please forgive yourself. Please."

He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers once more. He took a deep breath, "I love you."

She smiled at this, wiping yet another tear from his face and resting her hand on his cheek, "I love you too."

Eventually, with lots of persuasion, Rose managed to convince James to go to sleep again. She was hopeful that he could at least get a few hours in with no bad dreams. And if he woke, she would be there to coax him back to reality.

Rose herself still couldn't bring herself to sleep which was admittedly hypocritical of her. Everytime she closed her eyes, she could see Bellatrix towering over her as she began to carve her skin with the dagger or she could see the look of terror on James's face as he tried to stop it but failed.

It was better to go without sleep then to deal with that.

"He's not in the room," Remus announced, "He has to be here."

"Chairs empty," Sirius pointed out. "I smell him though." They all turned to look at the bed that was concealed by a curtain.

"You don't think they..." Tonks trailed off, "Do you?"

"They did not have sex in the infirmary," Sirius protested. "If James lost his virginity in a damn hospital bed, he will never live it down."

"James is a virgin?" Tonks inquired.

"Hey, Miss Judgey," he tutted, "Up until a week ago, you were too."

Tonks narrowed her eyes on Remus, "You told him?"

"He didn't have to," Sirius pointed out before sniffing the air around her dramatically. "I could smell the musk on you the second I saw you after. That and with how loud you were, it was either your first time or Remus was really good. I went with the former."

Remus whacked Sirius on the back of the head as Tonks hair turned an even brighter pink than usual in embarrassment.

"I wasn't that loud, was I?" Tonks asked Remus quietly.

He shrugged, "I didn't mind." The blush on her face grew darker and he grinned, moving his arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer to him.

"I'm offended that I wasn't the first one to here about the loss of your V card," Rose announced from behind the curtain. "For future reference, silencing charms do wonders. That's what Sirius and I used and the boys were none the wiser."

Tonks yanked the curtain open and grinned at her best friend. She was quick to jump onto the bed, knocking a still sleeping James onto the floor with a thud.

"Ow," James muttered and Sirius walked over to help his friend up.

"We have so much to talk about," Tonks informed the girl.

"Clearly," Rose grinned in response.

"You're lucky I like you lot at least a little," Rose informed them as she sat up slightly. "I don't care to be woken up. Only reason I don't hex the Slytherin's when they do it is cause they'd go run to their pureblood boyfriends and tell them all about how the Mudblood disrespected someone with purer blood than her own."

The group's face dropped at this and she noted that all their eyes flickered to her arm before moving back to her face. She let out a sigh before rolling up her sleeve and flashing the word to them. James turned around and Tonks grimaced at the sight.

"It happened," she pointed out and she fought down a frown at the fact that James wouldn't even look at her. "There's no undoing it. There's no getting rid of it. Something bad happened to me and I survived. I survived and this is proof of that. I'm not going to hide from what happened and neither should any of you."

"Speaking of," Rose adjusted her position again, "Where's Lily? I need to talk to her."

"I'll go get her," Remus offered before he left the room.

The room fell silent and it was rather awkward so Rose spoke up, "What did I miss?"

"Remus and Tonks are mates," James announced and Rose turned to look at him in surprise. The boy refused to meet her eye and she frowned slightly.

"Potter!" Tonks exclaimed in disbelief. "You were supposed to keep your big mouth shut!"

His eyes widened slightly as he realized what he said, "You know, I have a lot of work to get done, so if you don't mind..." And then he ran from the room.

Sirius rolled his eyes before following after his friend, "Later losers."

Rose turned to Tonks with a raised eyebrow, "Mates?"

Tonks smiled slightly and nodded, "I guess...you know, with Remus's condition, there's a mate of sorts for each werewolf. I'm his."

"Really?" Rose inquired and the girl nodded. Rose grinned before pulling the girl into a hug, "Oh, I'm so happy for you. But even if you are mates, I will still be giving him the 'if he hurts you, he'll end up dead in a ditch' speel."

Tonks grinned, "I already debriefed him on what to expect." Her smiled faltered slightly, "How - how are you?"

Rose frowned slightly, "I don't really want to talk about it right now. I will, eventually, but I'm not ready just yet. I just need time."

Tonks nodded in understanding and wrapped her arms around the red head, "I'm just glad you're okay."

"Me too."

"Rose?" Lily inquired as she entered the room. She beamed upon seeing the girls and immediately hopped on the bed, throwing her arms around her sister's neck. "Oh, Rose, I was so worried."

"I'm fine," Rose replied. "But I might stop breathing if you don't let me go."

"Sorry," she apologized as she pulled away, sitting at the foot of the bed. "Remus said you wanted to talk?"

She nodded, "We have a lot to discuss."