Chapter 3
"Hello Remus"
The older woman said.
She had her dark brown hair tightly pulled into a bun atop her head. Her silver streaks of grey hairs shone slightly. She wore oval-framed glasses that rested on the bridge of her nose and had distinction feline-like features with kind blue eyes.
"I'd like to welcome you to Hogwards. I understand it is scary to be in a place like this but I can assure you we are not your average inpatient institution. We believe strongly in rehabilitation through a mixture of therapy and medical assessments.
This is not a permanent situation, Mr Lupin."
She spoke firmly but kindly. Addressing him directly as a sign of respect.
Even so, Remus had difficulty believing her.
"I know why you are here Remus and you do too. I have read what the Doctor at St Mungo's has written in her report. But I would like to hear from you personally."
She said looking straight at him.
Remus looked down and played with a hanging nail on his thumb.
"I don't know. It's kinda all there in the report." He said defiantly.
Not feeling like explaining himself again.
He had been carted off to this institute against his will after his mother left the hospital. He had no say in the matter and he didn't exactly feel like engaging with this woman.
She nodded unperturbed by his insolence.
"Very well, you may speak to me when you are ready to Remus. There will be plenty of opportunity."
Remus was dumbstruck by how she didn't push further the way he was expecting her to.
Remus gave her a half smile of appreciation which she returned before starting again.
"Matron Pomfrey will show you to your room now and let you get settled before you get a tour. Through feel free to look around yourself if you are so inclined."
They left the office and outside was a set of intimidatingly large wooden doors.
Dr Mcgonagal pulled a key from the large ring of keys attached to her belt.
Remus contemplated running but the doors into the building that he was escorted through earlier were also locked.
She heaved slightly as she opened the doors revealing a large open area with brown couches scattered around and walls that were attached to several other sets of doors and corridors. The walls were decorated with different posters that Remus hadn't the time to read. And the windows overlooked a large garden space.
To the left, as they entered was a large station office with windows reaching from the circular desk inside it to the ceiling.
Inside were several nurses.
The Dr strode towards the station leaving Remus to take in the room as the heavy door behind him slammed shut effectively trapping him here.
Dr Mcgonagal knocked on the door to the station and a woman who appeared to be around her age opened it with a cheery smile.
"How can I help." She beamed with her head of silver curls sticking out.
"Matron, this is Remus." McGonagall gestured to Remus who was standing awkwardly close to the door as if he could still run to his freedom.
"He's the new admission, I was hoping you'd get him settled into his room." She said to the Matron.
The smiling nurse stepped out of the station and looked over to Remus.
"Lovely to meet you, Remus." She said with a genuine joy to her voice. "I'm Matron Poppy Pomfrey, the head nurse here."
Remus awkwardly shuffled towards the two staff members.
"Uh hi." He said.
She smiled at him.
"C'mon, poppet I'll show you where you'll be staying so." She gestured for Remus to follow her.
He looked back at the doctor bewildered.
McGonagall nodded at him to follow before she set off in another direction going through a set of doors labeled "girls dorms".
Matron Pomfrey brought Remus through the opposing set of doors that were labelled "boys dorms".
Remus walked down the long corridor which was admittedly bigger than he was expecting.
The corridor had doors on each side with numbered plaques on each. There were at least 10 different rooms.
Remus knew this for sure as she stopped at the very last door that had the number 10 stamped on the plaque hanging on it.
The Matron knocked on the door. Then stopped herself and shook her head turning to Remus.
"Silly me, they are all out in the garden right now. You'll like them though all lovely boys." Remus looked at her questioningly.
She pushed open the door in response revealing a large room.
It was surprisingly more decorated than he had expected. One side of the room had comic books and football posters filling up the dark red walls. There was a bunk bed pressed against the same wall with curtains around the bed at the top and bottom. A closet stood at the end of the bed next to a matching set of drawers. A worn couch was at the top of the bed.
On the other side of the room, there was an identical set of furniture. But instead of superheroes and football players, the wall was covered in posters of various musicians and bands.
Pink Floyd, Oueen, Led Zeppelin, and several posters of David Bowie.
Remus was impressed by the selection.
In the centre of the room between the two sets of bunk beds was a large window.
There was a platform where the floor raised one step in front of it.
On the platform, there were 4 desks. Two on either side of the window.
The window was quite grand. An old-style type that had a comfortable seat by it.
It was framed by large velvet curtains with gold embellishments on them.
It was honestly spectacular and far grander a room than Remus had expected with its high ceiling and oak furniture.
Matron Pomfrey took in the look on his face with delight.
"It's lovely isn't it." She grinned
"This bed over here will be yours dear. You may put your things in that dresser once they are dropped off and inspected for safety of course. " She was gesturing towards the boots bunk on the right side of the room the side covered in music posters.
"Thanks Matron Pomfrey," Remus said too drained from the day to provide any more gratitude than that.
"Just Poppy is fine dear." She said sweetly.
She seemed to understand that he needed a minute to adjust to his new surroundings.
"Well, you settle in. I'll find you later on for a proper tour and rundown." With that, she left.
Leaving Remus to explore on his own.
He inspected the room and walked down towards the window.
The sill was lined with a red velvet cushion making it very comfortable.
Out of curiosity, Remus opened the window to find it only opened a peek, too small to escape out of but big enough to blow smoke through.
He peered through out onto the garden of the grounds.
The hospital was enormous. It was an old stone building and looked more like a private school than a mental institution.
The grounds below showed a well-kept garden, with fountains and flowerbeds and even a greenhouse as well as a large football pitch where groups of teenagers were kicking around balls.
It seemed strangely...normal.
Not at all what Remus had expected.
He stepped back from the window area walking down towards the other end of the room where his bed was.
Drawing back the curtains he saw a plush burgundy duvet with a golden velvet lining and two plump pillows, made into a luxuriously comfy-looking bed.
Remus fought the urge to jump in, pull the curtains, and doze off right there.
But he was still curious about the rest of the hospital.
He left the boys' dormitories and found himself back at the nurses' station.
He didn't dare snoop into the girls' dorms.
(He wasn't THAT curious) so instead he ventured towards the door that had a sign reading "recreational rooms."
Through the doors, he found himself on another corridor that looked eerily similar to the last. But instead of being labeled by numbers the doors each had signs explaining what room they were.
"TV room", "library" "games room" "main room" "art room" etc.
Remus stopped himself at the door labelled common room A. What reason was there for multiple common rooms?
He pushed open the door to find the room was smaller than he had expected.
Only housing a bookshelf and a tattered couch. The room had old-fashioned floral wallpaper and seemed dingey in comparison to the bits of the hospital he'd seen so far.
Remus almost missed her as she sat silent in the corner of the couch.
It may look too awkward if he walked in and immediately left. But there quietly engrossed in her book a girl was sitting down knees bent to her chin.
She looked far too young to be here, but when Remus approached her, she looked older as he noticed the deep, sallow, violent bags under her eyes and sunken skin around her cheekbones.
They stuck out in contrast looking as though they would pierce through her translucent freckled skin.
Despite her ghostly appearance, you could tell she was a very pretty girl.
Remus could imagine how she may look if her face had a bit more life in it.
Or if her green eyes had a little spark in them.
Suddenly Remus felt very cruel for judging this poor girl so harshly when she was ill. But still, he was puzzled as to what she was doing here.
Places like this were for crazy people or puffs or junkies, not for actually ill people?
She didn't look like the type of junkies he'd seen in London with needles in their arms but he supposed she did have that gaunt look of a heroine user.
Just then, she looked up, and Remus panicked, worried she had heard his thoughts.
A gentle smile crept across her face.
It was warm and so achingly genuine you could see it in her eyes.
"Hi," She said in a gentle Irish accent.
Remus hesitated for a second wondering how introductions went in a place like this.
"Uh...Hey," He responded after a minute or so.
Her head tilted to one side and Remus shifted under her gaze.
"You must be new." There was a singsong quality to her voice. She said this without any malice but with something more akin to empathy.
"Yeah, I got here last night." He said uncomfortably.
"Hm," She nodded politely towards the end of the couch closest to Remus.
"D'you want to sit down?" She said gently as if she was talking to a frightened animal.
Maybe that was just how she talked?
Remus nodded curtly, surprised by how polite she was being.
As soon as he plopped himself down the small girl piped up again.
"I'm Lily" She smiled "And you are?"
"Remus"
"That's an unusual name. Does have any family significance?"
"Dunno, to be honest." Remus shrugged.
This was a lie. His father had a fascination with classical studies and decided to name him after Remulus the failed founder of Rome.
Lily straightened her legs, and Remus tried not to stare as the bones of her kneecaps pierced through her jeans.
She leaned over looking to Remus's side.
He tensed feeling incredibly uncomfortable.
Lily gestured towards the book he had in his right hand.
"Do you like to read?" She asked eagerly as if his tattered copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird." Was a signed edition of the Bible
"Yeah, I like reading. " He nodded pitifully.
Remus felt sorry for the girl when he saw how excited she got.
"That's brilliant!" She beamed. "No one else here really reads so I've no one to share books with. Well, Peter reads but only comic books and I can't talk to him about those even if I wanted to.
Sirius reads, too, I think, when he's not doing something stupid. I've never seen James touch a book or sit still long enough to do so for that matter. Marlene reads some of my books, but she returns them in such a state and forgets the plot half the time. Mary is only really into magazines. I've seen Regulusread some good books but he just glares if I try and talk to him about them. "
She spewed this information at an alarming rate, and she was far more animated than Remus anticipated.
It was honestly quite scary and he found himself edging away from the little ginger girl that was probably on drugs.
He had scooched back so much he was practically falling off the couch.
Lily quickly registered this and put her hand over her mouth stifling a giggle.
Remus looked at her concerned.
She shook her head smiling.
"I'm sorry, Remus. I shoot off at the mouth when I'm excited. I promise I'm not on drugs. It's just so boring around here, and I saw you reading To Kill a Mockingbird and-" She stopped herself and shook her head again, taking a breath. "God, listen to me. I'm doing it again." She said smiling faintly still. She looked at a bewildered Remus
"You're turn to talk or you won't be able to shut me up."
Remus scrambled to think of something to say. He landed on the obvious.
"Where are you from?"
"Originally, I'm from Wexford, but we moved back to my dad's hometown in Cardiff 3 years ago. And how about you hun?" She said, talking slower again so as not to spook him.
"I'm from London."
"I can hear it." She smiled. Remus never thought he had much of a London accent before. If anything he had a hint of his mothers welsh pronunciation.
"What age are you?" She asked.
It was hard to tell how old Lily was. She originally had the tired manner of someone far older than him but now had the excited nature of someone much younger.
"16"
She nodded.
"Me too. Then tend to keep people around the same age in the same wards." She gestured to the common room.
"We're all around 15-20 here."
Remus looked around, puzzled. Was this girl imagining people in the room with them?
Lily giggled again.
"On the ward, I mean not in this room. I'm not schizophrenic."
Remus nodded.
How was he supposed to know?
Remus worried at his bottom lip for a second, wondering how to ask.
"So then, um, what are you?"
He instantly regretted asking. He wasn't sure if it was something you asked until he saw Lily's face drop.
She straightened herself up and looked uneasy.
"We aren't really supposed to talk about that stuff with each other." She looked embarrassed.
Remus immediately felt a surge of guilt for asking.
"Shit I'm sorry I didn't know."
He said apologetically.
"It's alright you couldn't have known." She smiled but it didn't quite reach her eyes this time.
Just then as if on cue the nurse from this morning came in.
She had the same clipboard from earlier in her hands.
"There you are! Do you mind if I steal you away for a minute Remus." She smiled sweetly.