Chapter 5
At dawn, Remus limps into the dorm room, looking exhausted and leaning heavily on a cane.
James sits up as he enters. “Hey Remus. Did it go alright?”
“Yeah.” Remus groans, lowering himself into his bed. “No problem.”
James frowns at his clearly hurting friend. “You don’t have to lie, you know.”
“Don’t listen to him Moons!” Sirius, who is apparently awake, mumbles into his pillow. “Lie about it! Don’t let the bastards know they got you down!”
James shoots a glare at his friend, “While I’m glad to hear you're more alert this morning, you’re enough of a stubborn, prideful git for the bunch of us, don’t make Remus into one too.”
Sirius mutters something unintelligible into the pillow.
James sighs. “You know, if you weren’t so injured I’d throw your own pillow at you.”
At the mention of Sirius’s injuries, Remus jumps out of the bed. “What? Injured? Where?” He’s already halfway across the room before Sirius can respond.
“’S fine, ‘s fine.” Sirius tells the pillow, lazily waving a hand out to the side, the highest position he can reach while lying on his stomach.
Sirius didn’t bother putting his shirt back on last night, and in the pale light of morning, Remus can see the deep markings on his back. He freezes dead still.
“Remus...” James warns, seeing his friend’s face turn from ghostly pale to bright red to deep purple.
“Whas’ he doin’?” Sirius mutters, still not taking his face off of the mattress. “Prongs? Whas’ going on?” He sounds small, frightened. And that only angers Remus more.
“I’m going to kill them.” Remus says, calmly at first but then, “I’M GOING TO KILL THEM!”
He whips around and punches the wall, leaving a fist-sized hole in it. “I’M GOING TO HUNT THEM DOWN, TAKE OFF THEIR FUCKING HEADS AND STRING THEM UP FOR EVERYONE TO SEE”
Remus picks up his trunk and throws it just to make noise, just to have something solid to toss. It crashes loudly into the wall, its lid jostling open and all the contents spilling out.
James is out of bed now, jumping in front of Remus. “Stop it!” he orders, but Remus is too engulfed in red to hear.
“I’M GOING TO RIP THEM APART LIMB BY LIMB AND FEED THEIR FINGERS TO A QUINTAPED”
Remus grabs his wand and whips back around, brandishing it like an angry chef might a knife. “HOW FUCKING DARE THEY. HOW FUCKING DARE THEY. THOSE SADISTIC, INBRED, BLOOD-PURIST--” Remus’s tirade is cut short when turns and sees the scene behind him.
James is at the foot of Sirius’s bed, with his arms spread out wide as if he’s about to intercept a tackle, and Sirius is no longer lying on the bed. He’s curled up into a corner of the mattress, one side of his body pressed into the wall behind and his arms up to his head. His long, slender fingers wrapped in his jet-black hair. He’s shivering and shaking and all that movement has burst open some of the welts on his body, leaving yellow and red streaks dripping onto the sheets.
Remus’s hands drop to his sides, all that angry energy replaced with guilt, shame, exhaustion, and deep, deep sadness.
“No, Sirius-- I didn’t-- I would never--” he starts to walk over to the bed to make it better, to comfort Sirius, to show him he doesn’t need to be afraid, but James puts a hand on his chest before he can get there.
“Not right now, mate.” James says softly, pity in his eyes. “Maybe give him some space, yeah? Go have Madam Pomfrey check you out and then come back?”
His tone is a question, but his intention clearly isn’t.
Remus nods, tears welling in his eyes as he looks over James’s shoulder at Sirius.
“Yeah. Yeah. Okay.” Then, by way of apology, he adds. “I’ll try to see if I can get some strong pain potions, tell her the hip is acting up.”
Remus starts to leave, but before he makes it two steps, James has pulled him into a tight hug. “It’s okay. He knows you won’t hurt him. He’s just a little... stressed right now. He knows, though, he does.”
Remus wants to believe James, but seeing Sirius react that way... he just can’t. He’s a monster. He’s a terrible, angry, violent monster.
“Just come back in an hour or so.” James says, releasing Remus. “I don’t think any of us will be going to classes today.”