To be honest...

Rise stared hard at the book she was reading, her eyes unfocused as she pretended to read the tiny print that was inked into the textbook. Her mind was numb as she stared at the little symbols that were supposed to make up words, words she wasn't reading at all. It hurt again.. her scar, it was a searing, white hot pain, there was no other way to describe it. Although it was hidden from view, it was obvious that she was in some sort of discomfort. Her hand was at her neck, scratching at the top of her scarf, it was a cool day outside, but it certainly wasn't the weather for the type of clothing she had on. Clothing which hid most of her body and especially her neck and chest area.

Rise finally gave up staring at the words and leaned back in her chair. She was itching at her neck, leaving long, red, scratch marks there, but her itching did no good, because the thing that really itched, she wasn't allowed to touch. She couldn't touch.. she couldn't bring herself to touch such a horrible thing, the scar that marked her as different, put in such a different spot. Normally when bitten, werewolves could easily hide their scar, it was on an arm, or leg, but Rise's was different, and it would forever cause her grief, her scar was placed in between her breasts, it traveled up onto her chest, and down under her shirt and bra. Rise usually kept it hidden by a Hufflepuff scarf, and even though most of the school knew by now she was a werewolf, she kept it hidden simply to avert their gaze from the long white scar that clearly showed just exactly what she was.

Jimmy had, as per usual, found himself a nice, quiet corner of the library and surrounded himself with books. Nothing pleased him more than a stack of books just waiting to have their pages turned. Jimmy cared little for anyone or anything around him when there were things to read.

As he slowly made his way through his little collection, a peculiar noise reached his ears. Jimmy tried his best to ignore it and buried his nose further into his book, but to no avail. "What is this?" he thought to himself "How can I concentrate with this infernal noise throwing me off my place??" Setting his book down and sighing heavily, Jimmy peered over the rest of the books to investigate.

The sight that greeted his eyes intrigued Jimmy greatly. A fellow student, a kindred Hufflepuff no less, sat a few short feet away from him, appearing to be in some distress. "The poor thing" Jimmy mused "Being held back from her studies by an irritant on her skin". Taking a deep breath and adjusting his hat, Jimmy tentatively dared to break the silence.

"Are you okay, ma'am?"

Rise was startled out of her stupor by a boy walking into sight. Her hand paused on her neck, and she stared him like a deer caught in headlights. Undoubtedly he was a Slytherin, coming to poke fun at the Hufflepuff werewolf. His hat was a giveaway, she knew that anyone who owned a hat like that thought they were better than everyone else, that they could do whatever they wanted. Rise was on guard, and she immediately felt her inner puppy go on guard as well. It stiffened and even made her sniff the air slightly, looking for a sign of a threat, of course her human nose would never be able to pick up something like that, but the puppy couldn't resist trying. Rise tensed up and was ready to flee, until his words kept her from doing anything.

"Are you okay, ma'am?"

Ma'am? The word sounded in Rise's ears to be an odd word, no one had ever called her ma'am.. specially not a boy.. well unless they were making fun of her, that's all people ever did, was make fun of her, so why should this boy be any different. But his sincere tone made her pause, watching him with suspicion, she let both of her hands rest on the edge of the table, as though contemplating whether she should leave or not. "I'm fine.. what do you want?" She asked harshly, unaccustomed to anyone being nice in any way, and she sounded as though she were about to bite him.

Jimmy was nervous enough about approaching her, her reaction only served to make him retreat a little. Noticing her gaze focused on his hat, he timidly pulled it down over his eyes and took a few steps back. "What have I gotten myself in to?" he pondered, turning back and gazing at his mini fort of books "Why couldn't I just stay where I was safe?"

Her harsh words jolted his focus back to her, "I-I only asked if you were okay..." he stammered. "I'll r-return to my books...I didn't mean any harm." Jimmy reached towards his neck and pulled out a small Hufflepuff pendant from underneath his shirt. "Only wanted to check if one of my own was okay...I'll go now ma'am" he mumbled before politely tipping his hat towards her and scurrying back to his little hide away.

Rise looked slightly startled when he started to stammer. Slytherins don't stammer, they were self assured assholes, people who were making fun of her don't stammer, because they knew exactly what they wanted to say, this kid, he was stammering, and making, well a fool of himself.. it was like he didn't know what to talk about, and it almost made her smile, but just before she could respond to his comment about him being a Hufflepuff as well, he was scurrying out of site.

Without thinking Rise jumped out of her seat and dashed across the room so that she could follow him back to his alcove. She followed silently, on light feet, light feet granted to her by her wolf nature, a nature she only had now because of the puppy inside of her, helping her to guide her feet to where they needed to be. Following him to his hide a way, she stood in the darkness, watching him for a moment before she stepped out and ran her hand through her hair. "I didn't mean to upset you.. I'm sorry, it's just I thought you were there to make fun of me is all.." She said lowering her voice, as well as her eyes, kicking at the floor with the tip of her shoe.

"That...was a train wreck, Jimmy. Well done!" Jimmy thought to himself as he settled back into his little den. Taking off his hat, Jimmy ran his fingers through his hair before picking up his book and burying his nose in it.

"I didn't mean to upset you.. I'm sorry, it's just I thought you were there to make fun of me is all.."

Those words caused Jimmy to throw himself back into his chair out of pure fright. The chair gave way, sending Jimmy onto his back, his fort of books sent crashing to the floor by his lanky feet flying into the air.

"I stand corrected...THAT was a train wreck..." Jimmy's brain mused. Jimmy slowly pulled himself to his feet, taking the time to lift his chair back up before turning to the source of his momentary heart attack.

"Oh, um...it's okay, it was rude of me to ambush you like that" he said with a slight smile as he realized who it was who startled him. "Why would I ever dream of making fun of you anyways?" Jimmy asked, his eyes gazing upon Risé with a mixture of confusion and curiosity.

Rise gasped when he went tumbling backwards, and there was a loud crash that made her wince, she jumped to help him, but before she could do anything he was already on his feet and looking at her. She shrank away from him again, frightened by his height, her eyes now pointed at the floor. "You didn't ambush me.. I just scare easily.." She said kicking at the ground again, resuming the regular pose and overall not making eye contact. She glanced up at his well meaning gaze and she frowned slightly before looking back down at her feet.

"Just most people do.." She said, trying to wrap it around in her mind that this boy didn't know she was a werewolf.. everyone knew who the werewolves were.. it was like a school known fact, they were regarded by name, and by appearance, so you could tell who to stay away from in the halls, and while you'd think that the werewolves would pack up, they didn't, they were mostly solitary, or as far as Rise knew, she didn't belong to any pack, and she wanted to keep it that way. But even before she had been a werewolf, she had known who was one, and who wasn't.. everyone did, unless the student kept it a complete secret, everyone knew who they were.. how could he not recognize her? She was the werewolf with the brown hair, and the Hufflepuff scarf constantly around her neck.. it was just her, and everyone knew that.. so why was he not scared? Why was he not ordering her away, or making fun of her? Most likely it was because.. well, he didn't know..

"It doesn't take much to scare me either" Jimmy responded with a wry smile, gesturing to the mess that was once his private study area. "Are....you okay?" Jimmy queried, "You seem to be having a staring contest with the floor and if I'm honest, I don't think you're gonna win..." Jimmy added, doing his meager best to disarm the situation.

Turning his attention to the table, Jimmy began to search for his hat, his head feeling naked and cold without it.

Rise glanced up at the mess that had been neat and orderly before she had arrived.. it was obvious she made a mess of things, even without meaning to. She stared at the floor again, until he made a comment about it, and she found her head snapped up, looking up at him and blushing a light red that went all the way to her neck. She had gotten so used to not making any eye contact, she didn't know how to handle a situation in which he was requesting that she look at him, but before she could even look at him for a moment, he turned away.

Relaxing with relief, she resumed her stare at the ground, only peeking up to see what he was doing. It looked like he was searching for something, and Rise's eyes swept over the mess in the room. "Let me help you pick it up.." She said dryly, immediately bending over and picking up a couple of books from near her feet, before she moved closer to the table and started to pick up the books that had once sat so neatly on top of it, of course she had messed things up.. again, but the least she could do is help clean this mess up.

Jimmy paid no attention to Risé as he continued his search for his beloved hat. He had the remarkable good fortune to find such a high quality hat for a ludicrously low price and hadn't parted with it in the 2 years since then.

"Damn it all! Where is it??" Jimmy muttered to himself, growing steadily more and more frantic as time passed. Soon he was half buried under the table, hoping desperately that it would be found soon.

"Aha!" cried Jimmy ecstatically, as he emerged from underneath, his hat sitting proudly on top of his head once again. Noticing what Risé was doing, Jimmy tipped his hat slightly in acknowledgement. "Thank you, this isn't necessary but thanks..." he murmured, utterly bewildered that someone was doing something for him.

He stood awkwardly for a moment before proceeding to gather books as well.