5th September 1971 - First Full Moon
5th September 1971.
Remus climbed through the portrait hole and into the Gryffindor common room first, followed by Peter running straight to the chess set, and then James and Sirius who were debating whether a Dumbledore chocolate frog card was better than the Grindelwald one.
“I’m telling you, Grindelwald is so much more powerful!” Sirius was saying, stepping through the portrait hole and into the common room, James not far behind him.
“First of all, piss off. Second of all, Dumbledore is right here in our school! Support the headmaster, mate!” James retorted, also climbing through the portrait hole and plopping down on the couch beside Sirius at the fireplace.
Remus rolled his eyes while massaging his sore and aching limbs — it was the day of the full moon and he was not looking forward to it.
“Sure, sure. Agree to disagree.” Sirius held out his hand for James to shake. James grinned and happily shook the other’s hand.
“You two went on about cards for half an hour since dinner to just end it with an ‘agree to disagree’?” Remus rubbed the bridge of his nose, sighing.
Three days full of classes and struggling to deal with James and Sirius’ jokes, he was exhausted. The full moon being tonight didn't help. He’d soon have to leave for the matron’s office.
“Yeah mate, it's called having a functioning conversation .” James playfully jabbed at Remus.
“Freaks, you are.” Remus chuckled at the two boys, joining them on the couch.
The four had established a somewhat good friendship now — Remus being able to speak his mind without them taking it to heart and them being able to joke around, (mostly) without getting on each other's nerves. He liked it like that. Even Peter never took his somewhat meaner comments seriously.
Remus decided to take out his book, and went back to reading where he left off at dinner.
“Back to the book.” Sirius sighed, rolling his eyes. “Maybe engage in social interaction, Lupin?”
“Not my thing.” Remus responded dryly, not so much as looking up from the page he was reading .
He was trying hard to concentrate on the words, but they just wouldn’t stay in place. He blamed it on the moon. It made him tired.
“Yeah, but you could at least-”
“Leave him be, mate.” James nudged Sirius, somehow sensing Remus’ exhaustion.
Sirius huffed but didn’t press the matter any further.
James pulled his pack of cards and offered them to Sirius. Who shook his head and declined. So James went over to Peter and Marlene to offer a game to them instead.
That left Remus sitting alone on the couch with Sirius. He didn’t even mind much now — he had soon realised that Sirius wasn’t all that bad once you got to know him. That didn't mean that the darker haired boy didn’t annoy Remus anymore, though. In fact, he probably annoyed Remus more than before at times.
“What are you reading?” Sirius asked him, turning his head slightly to peer at the title. He had clearly gotten bored of sitting in silence for over five seconds.
“Oh it’s a muggle book,” Remus explained, “Where the Red Fern Grows.”
“Can I read it with you?” Sirius asked.
Remus nodded. “Sure, but I have to go in a bit.”
“Where?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Okay.” Sirius replied, scooting across the couch to sit next to Remus, looking over his shoulder to read the book. Remus was glad Sirius learned his lesson to not ask follow-up questions.
They sat reading in silence for a bit until Sirius spoke up again. “Wait, er, what’s happening?”
Remus realised that Sirius had no idea about what has happened so far in the book, and had no idea who any of the characters were.
Remus turned his head, ready to explain, “Alright, there’s this lad called Billy Colman who saves up all his money to buy two Redbone Coonhounds to train. He just bought them last chapter, and I think he’s going to train them now. If any new characters come up, I’ll tell you.”
Sirius grinned, nodding. “Cheers.”
They read for what seemed like a few minutes, until Remus decided to look up to allow his eyes to rest for a moment. His eyes fell on the huge grandfather clock standing in the corner on the other side of the fireplace, and Remus immediately shut the book. It was seven-thirty — he should probably get a move on.
“Oi! I was just getting into it!” Sirius complained when the book was swooped away from under his eyes.
“Sorry. I’ve got to go.”
“You want to tell me where?” Sirius tried again.
“Not at all, honestly.” Remus shrugged. He put his book on the stairs to the dorm and made a mental note not to forget it there the next morning when he returned back from the hospital wing. Sirius was following Remus like a baby duckling.
“Pleaseeeee.” Sirius whined. Now he was starting to get on Remus’ nerves. “Can I come with?”
“No.” Remus sighed. “I’ll be back in the morning.” He waited a beat before adding, “Probably.” Another beat. “Maybe.”
“The morning ?!” Sirius exclaimed. “Where are you off to, Lupin?”
“Not your business.” Remus responded. He was making his way over to the portrait hole now, Sirius still following him.
“I won’t tell anyone, promise!” Sirius pleaded again.
Maybe it was the wolf’s nerves he was getting on.
“Shut up, Black.” Remus walked through the portrait hole. When he realised Sirius was crawling through too, he put up his hand. “Go play with Potter and Pettigrew.”
Why did it feel like he was talking to a child?
“But I don’t want to!” Sirius whined loudly. “I want to come with you.”
“Go away, Black.” Remus inhaled deeply.
“Let me come with you!”
Sirius just wouldn’t shut up .
“Go.” Remus made his voice stern and cold, like his father’s. That seemed to work.
“Fine.” Sirius huffed, turning around and stomping away to James, Peter, and the girls.
Remus exhaled deeply and let the portrait shut behind him.
How could he have lost track of the time? If it were the middle of winter the sun would have set two hours ago .
Remus was furious with himself, he should’ve been more careful .
He speed walked to the Hospital Wing, careful not to run in case a teacher saw and stopped him.
—
With a bang he burst into the Hospital Wing, where Madam Pomfrey was waiting, arms crossed and looking stern.
“You’re lucky it’s not getting dark early yet, Remus.” She said to him, uncrossing her arms. He sent her an apologetic look back
“Sorry.”
“Next time I expect you to be here by seven. Am I clear?”
Remus nodded and Pomfrey grabbed her coat, making her way out of the castle and onto the lawns, Remus following her close behind.
Pomfrey was nearly running, and Remus was slowing down behind her. His knees ached terribly, and he could practically feel the bones in his body preparing for the shift from human to wolf.
The sun was setting. Remus could see the orange and pink on the horizon of the field, with the leafless murder-tree silhouette just before it.
“Keep up, dear!” Pomfrey called out behind her.
“Yeah, sorry.” Remus nodded, starting to run again. His legs hurt terribly. So did his shoulders. And all his joints. Everything hurt.
Pomfrey stopped just before she got in range of the murder tree's branches. Remus was watching her curiously as she conjured a long stick with her wand and used it to push at a knot on the tree's trunk.
Immediately, the tree froze in place, branches no longer lazily and slowly swinging from side to side, ready to attack and violently swing at whoever got too close.
So this was the tree where Remus would be staying.
“Come on.” Pomfrey urged him forward, to where there was a dark pit at the roots.
He felt himself being gently nudged inside to where there was what seemed to be a dark tunnel, endlessly curving and turning into itself.
Remus bent down a bit, and started walking slowly further and further into the tunnel, occasionally turning around to check if Pomfrey was still following him.
They were walking for about five minutes before Remus’ head bumped into a door knocker and Pomfrey breathed out.
“There we are, dear.” She smiled. Remus could see she smiled in the darkness. Perks of being a werewolf, he guesses. “Open up the trapdoor.”
Remus nodded, and opened the small wooden trapdoor that was above his head. He stretched up and looked around for something to stand on so he could help Pomfrey get up. There was a small step-ladder beside the trapdoor, which Remus immediately grabbed and lowered down for Pomfrey to use.
Once she got up, Remus finally copped on to look around to where he was. It looked like an old, abandoned house. Cobwebs everywhere, some pieces of the floor missing, and the windows boarded up with wooden planks.
“Where are we?” Remus asked.
Pomfrey smiled again. “It’s a house off the side of the nearby town, Hogsmeade. It’s been abandoned for quite some time, and Professor Dumbledore had the brilliant idea of making the Whomping Willow a tunnel to here.”
“Oh, cool. Er, thanks.” Remus responded, nodding. His bones were aching more now and he desperately wanted Pomfrey to leave.
“I should leave now, dear.” She smiled sympathetically at him, looking out the crack of the almost fully boarded up window. “I’ll be back at sunrise to take you back, okay?”
Remus nodded, groaning — he was almost folding over in pain.
Pomfrey opened the trap door and climbed out. Remus could hear her muttering incantations, probably to keep him in until morning.
The aching was getting worse now. He could feel his bones start to snap and break, a headache building behind his eyes, rendering him almost blind with pain.
—
“Remus, are you alright in there?” Pomfrey asked, knocking lightly on the trap door. Remus groaned in response.
The matron took that as an invite to come in, and she opened the trap door, climbing inside the dusty house.
Remus must have been in a bad state by the gasp that Madam Pomfrey let out. He felt like he had been thrown into a wood chipper. And he probably looked like he had too. Remus could feel his own blood in a pool around him, and he could feel the new gashes on his arms and torso. The wolf did not like being locked up in an abandoned house.
“It’s okay dear, I’ll get you fixed up. Let’s just get back to the Hospital Wing.”
Remus, only opening one eye to see what was going on, saw a blurry Pomfrey summoning a stretcher.
Absolutely not.
“No!” He managed to croak out, raising his voice slightly, and immediately coughing. The wolf must have howled a lot last night. Pomfrey lowered her wand, looking at him curiously, while the stretcher floated idly beside her.
“What’s wrong?” She asked him.
“I am not being carried back on that.” Remus protested hoarsely after he’d finished his coughing fit, trying to sit up slightly.
“Remus, lie back down, don’t strain yourself.”
The boy let himself lie back down on the hard, wooden floors of the house — still not ready to give up his argument.
“I am not lying on that.” Remus protested again, staring up at the ceiling and scowling. “What if someone sees?”
Pomfrey rolled her eyes and tutted. “No one is going to see you, Remus. It’s five in the morning on a Friday.”
She eventually managed to get him onto the stretcher, much to Remus’ dismay, but he didn’t have enough energy to fight back anymore. Pomfrey put a blanket over Remus’ limp body, and Remus immediately melted into the warmth.
He slowly drifted off to sleep as he was being carried back to the castle, feeling safe lying on a soft stretcher with a soft blanket over him. If only he had this luxury back at home.
—
“Mate, what the hell happened to you?!”
Remus cracked his eyes open to blinding white lights. He was in the Hospital Wing.
Oh great.
James, Sirius and Peter were all there. It seemed as James was the one who exclaimed, and was now looking at Remus with extreme concern, while the other two just had their jaws dropped open — in awe or worry, Remus didn’t know.
“Why are you covered in bandages?” James continued to question. “Did you get in a fight?”
Sirius looked like he was about to say something, but didn’t, and resorted to silence beside Peter.
Remus tried to get up, just to sit upright. Madam Pomfrey came bustling out of her office as if even the tiniest bit of movement on Remus’ part could set off a bomb.
“No no, lie back down, dear.” She was saying as she raced past the three boys and beside Remus to push him onto his back again.
Remus scowled at her. First, she let in his friends when he looked like this , and now she didn’t even let him sit up .
Pomfrey looked around, as if she had just noticed the three boys standing there. “What are you three doing here?”
They all shrugged in response.
“Er, class starts in five minutes.” Peter spoke up, looking at the injured Remus. Remus groaned.
Did he look like he could go to class?
“Are you…er…coming?” Peter finished, looking extremely uncomfortable.
“No.” Remus croaked, gesturing to his face and body that was covered with bandages.
“He’s not coming out of here until I say he’s healed, okay boys? Run along now, don’t be late for class.” Madam Pomfrey instructed.
James and Peter nodded and started to slowly walk back, but Sirius stayed, staring at Remus.
“What?” Remus sighed at Sirius. He immediately winced, because his lungs were slightly damaged - he assumed it had something to do with his broken rib. Even light breathing hurt.
“Er, nothing. Do you want breakfast?” Sirius shook his head, and pulled out an apple.
“‘M not hungry.”
“Well, have it for later.”
“I don’t want it.”
“Just take it!”
“No.”
“But I took it from the Great Hall for you to eat.”
“Good for you, mate. Did you want a trophy?”
“Merlin, you’re still mean, even on your deathbed.”
“What did you think? Being covered in bandages would make me nicer? To you especially.” His voice came out hoarse.
“Oi! Why especially?”
“Shut up.” Remus was in no mood. He was exhausted. He just needed a few more hours to sleep.
Sirius looked exasperatedly at Remus.
“Right, come on now, out out!” Madam Pomfrey came pushing Sirius away from Remus and out the big double doors. Before he was pushed away, Sirius still managed to place the apple on Remus’ bedside table. And the scarred boy couldn’t help but sigh in annoyance.
Pomfrey came back around to Remus’ side, placing a medicine flask on his bedside table. Remus furrowed his brows at her in anger. He wasn’t actually cross, but he needed to say something.
“Why would you let them in?” He scowled.
“I didn’t.” She replied, now fixing the duvet on Remus’ bed. “They snuck in, I didn’t open the door. I’d swear those boys were invisible.”
Remus refrained from rolling his eyes. Leave it to James and Sirius to find a way to become invisible barely a full week into school.
“Right,” Pomfrey nodded to herself, picking up the bottle of medicine. “Drink this, pet. It’ll help you go to sleep.”
“I don’t want to go to sleep.” Remus huffed.
“Well you’re going to have to. You need the rest, Remus.” She shook her head sternly. She opened the flask and handed it to him.
Remus took one last look at Pomfrey before chugging the entire bottle, and passing out asleep almost immediately.
—
Remus awoke again to the pale lights of the Hospital Wing, this time with no James, Sirius or Peter watching him sleep.
He looked over at the clock hung on the wall diagonally across from him, which read three-thirty. They were still in lessons, then. Thank Merlin.
Pomfrey walked in from her office and spotted him lying awake.
“Oh good, you’re up!” She smiled, bustling over to him with a tray of food — Remus was glad for this as he had just realised how hungry he was. “Those friends of yours tried to visit you during lunch. They weren’t too happy that I wouldn’t let them in.”
Remus smiled weakly at her, taking the tray and resting it on his lap. He was glad they didn't manage to sneak in that time. If he had been woken up by the three boys once again he was sure to have gone mental.
“How are you feeling?” The matron asked, standing at the edge of his bed to unwrap the bandages on his arms — to his surprise, the cuts had already turned to scars, and were now a pale pink in colour, as if they were a week or two old.
“I’m fine.” Remus replied, taking a bite out of the ham and cheese sandwich provided for him.
“Are you sure?” Pomfrey asked him, looking at Remus wearily. “I think a night here might do you good-”
“No! No. I’m fine.” Remus insisted. He couldn’t be missing two nights in a row. Yes, his dorm mates already knew where he was but still .
Madam Pomfrey tutted but nevertheless, stood up straight with Remus’ old bandages in her hands, moved his food tray to the bedside table, and walked away. That left Remus to fall back onto his pillows with a heavy sigh, which induced another coughing fit to his damaged lungs.
He wished he’d brought his book with him. Recovering was boring. Back home, he didn’t have this luxury of having multiple days plus medicine to recover. He’d just go into a silver cage, and be carried out in the morning by his father. And that was that. He’d be in bed till about nine in the morning, and then he’d have to get on with his day.
Remus looked to the small table beside his bed, and noticed a newspaper underneath the tray of food. Well, it’s something. A book would be better but a newspaper will do.
He carefully slid the newspaper out from under the tray, and looked at the cover page, which read The Daily Prophet , with a moving picture of a burly man signing a paper while reporters took photos with flashing cameras.
Ah, right. Magic newspapers.
His father read The Daily Prophet, which was the Wizarding World’s newspaper, but he rarely read it at the kitchen table - instead, he read it in his office. Probably because of Hope’s views on exposing Remus to a certain amount of magic.
Remus had to stare at the front cover picture for a good few minutes before he was satisfied with how it worked. Yes, the paintings in the corridors moved, but he didn’t know pictures did too. He wished he did. He wished he knew as much about the Wizarding World as James and Peter, and Sirius. But he didn't.
After a while of slowly reading the newspaper, he set it aside. His eyes had started hurting and the headache from the full moon hadn’t quite left him.
Remus closed his eyes, just to rest them for a few minutes. His mum always told him to rest after a good while of reading. It was solid advice, Remus always followed it. But the sleeping drought must’ve not worn off completely, as he fell asleep again.
He woke up after about forty minutes because of a nightmare. A quill was chasing him, telling him off for not doing his homework. It was a stupid thing but it got Remus worried about the schoolwork he’s missing. Maybe he’ll get the lads to get him the homework. If they come by again.
Remus spent the rest of the day until after dinner either staring at the moving picture on the front cover of the Daily Prophet or deadpanning the stone wall across from him and dissociating.
For dinner, Remus’ friends came along. Pomfrey wouldn’t let them in again. They had brought dinner for Remus, so Pomfrey took the plate piled with food and shut the door in their faces. A bit cold, but Remus understood. He’d do the same if he could stand.
Remus was busy eating his dinner, scarfing down some chicken, as Sirius popped out from a curtain beside Remus’ bed.
Remus shrieked, at an understandable volume, and immediately started telling Sirius off. Madam Pomfrey hadn't come out of her office yet to hear what all the noise was from, but still, Sirius tried to quieten Remus anyways. His method being absolutely ridiculous as he picked up a large piece of broccoli and shoved it into Remus’ mouth.
The broccoli, instead of going into Remus’ mouth like Sirius had obviously intended, was squished into Remus’ cheek. This left forets and broccoli juice to stay on his cheek or fall down his face and onto his bed and lap.
Remus, too shocked by what had happened, certainly quieted down, much to Sirius’ obvious relief — if the relaxing of his shoulders was anything to go by.
With a glare, Remus picked up a tissue and roughly wiped his face off — not moving his eyes from Sirius the whole time, absolutely intent on trying to burn two holes through the raven haired boy with his angry glare.
“What was that for?” Remus demanded once all the broccoli was off his face.
“You were shouting.” Sirius said plainly, as if shoving a head of broccoli into someone’s face was a completely normal thing to do.
“Because you won’t bloody leave me alone !” Remus retorted. He looked around for show, holding out his arms. “Where are James and Peter, then? Are they actually capable of minding their own business?”
Sirius rolled his eyes and sat down on a wooden chair beside the bed, “I’m only here because I’m worried.”
Now it was Remus’ turn to roll his eyes.
Nosy prat, he thought.
“Well, I’m alright. You can go now.”
Sirius didn’t budge though. “What about those bandages you had on this morning?” He questioned.
“Mind your own business.” Remus snapped. He knew he was being unfair, and that Sirius probably only wanted to make sure he was okay — but he honestly couldn’t find it in him to care.
“Meh meh meh.” Sirius poked his tongue out, mocking Remus.
It was like being friends with a toddler.
“How did you even come in here?” Remus realised to ask, trying to change the subject.
Sirius smiled. “You’ll know once you’re ready.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Remus exclaimed again.
Sirius flinched a bit at Remus’ outburst, and Remus raised an eyebrow but didn’t pry. Instead, he forced himself to apologise.
“Right. Sorry.” Remus swallowed. “Would you mind, please, telling me what you meant by that, Sirius dearest?”
Sirius smirked once again, “James’ll tell you.”
Remus just couldn’t anymore.
“Whatever. Just get out, please.” He tried nicely.
“Have you eaten the apple?”
Remus inhaled. Counted to five. And exhaled again. It had become standard practice for Remus to do this in Sirius’ presence, so Sirius just sat there patiently, waiting for Remus to calm down.
“No, I have not eaten the apple, because I told you I did not want it.” Remus said after a second time of inhaling, counting, and exhaling.
“Okay. Just wondering, then.” Sirius smiled. The two just stared at each other in silence, waiting for the other to speak again. “Er, I brought your book.” Sirius said after a while, fishing out a book from the other side of the curtain.
“Oh, cheers!” Remus grinned. His good mood was back, now. He took the book from Sirius’ hands. “I was just wishing I had it.”
“Sirius the Genie, at your service.” Sirius smiled broadly.
Remus chuckled a bit. Then remembered he was meant to be cross with Sirius. “Right, can you leave now?”
“Ah, sure. I just came along to give you your book.”
“And to shower me in broccoli, but thanks.” Remus smiled in fake kindness.
Sirius poked his tongue out again, but actually got ready to leave. “See you.” He spoke, bundling something up behind the curtain, putting it under his shirt, and then sprinting out of the Hospital Wing. As he was leaving, the doors made a huge bang, and Madam Pomfrey popped her head out of her office.
“Are you alright, dear?” She called out to Remus.
“Fine.” He skipped over the part where Sirius was visiting him after hours. He had another question, though. “Er, Madam Pomfrey?”
“Call me Poppy.” She smiled again, walking out of her office and making her way to Remus to stand sympathetically beside his bed again, looking at him with her head tilted in a sad way. “What is it, pet? Are you hungry? Cold?”
“Just wondering when I can go back to my dorm.” Remus said, cutting Pomfrey off before she could start trying to spoon-feed him his food — which wouldn’t be surprising at this point. He was trying to be nice about it but it was seriously getting on his nerves.
“Well, you’re fine to go tomorrow morning, but it will really benefit you to stay for another day.” She told him.
“Yeah, but I’m alright now.” Remus nodded up at her.
Madam Pomfrey seemed to weigh the different options in her head, before she finally nodded. “Oh, alright. You’re free to go tomorrow morning. But Remus, you are to stay here overnight, okay?”
“Yeah, okay. Thanks.” Remus smiled at the matron. He could finally leave in the morning. Even though he’d much rather go now.
Beggars can’t be choosers .
Picking up his book that Sirius had so graciously taken to the Hospital Wing for him, he started to read, just to make the time go by faster. He’d have to go to sleep soon anyway, but it was better than aimlessly staring at the wall.
Remus put the book down when his eyes started to physically shut. Madam Pomfrey came along to check up on him one last time, where Remus again insisted he was perfectly fine, and he finally went to sleep.
—
Remus awoke at about seven in the morning, excited to go back to his dorm again. Pomfrey had to do a check to see if he was fine to go back, which took at least half an hour and Remus was falling asleep again, but he finally got to leave.
He walked into his dormitory, and was immediately met with James throwing a pillow onto Sirius’ still asleep face, with Sirius waking up and starting to yell at James for annoying him so early on a Sunday.
“Piss off, Potter! I’m trying to sleep!”
“Wake up, mate, half the day is gone!”
“It’s half fucking seven!”
“It’s good to be back.” Remus sighed.
That got Sirius’ attention, and he quickly shot up in bed to see who said that. Once his eyes fell on Remus, he jumped out of bed and made his way over to him.
“Goodness, Lupin. We thought you were never coming back!” Sirius exclaimed, patting Remus on the shoulder.
Remus just shook his head smiling and went over to his bed to grab his satchel. He crossed Peter’s bed, where the sandy haired boy was still fast asleep — he guessed he would go to the library with just Lily then.
“Where’re you going?” Sirius questioned Remus, seeing him pick up his worn satchel and cross the dorm to leave.
“Oh, er, I’m just going to the library with Evans.” He replied, briefly catching a glimpse of James’ frown.
He still hadn’t given up on Lily — quite the opposite actually. Throughout the whole week, James had tried to make up for the pumpkin juice disaster on their first day. Lily had ended up forgiving him but kindly rejected him asking her out. He was hurt at first, but just assumed she wasn’t ready yet and planned to ask her out again in the future.
“Really?” Sirius asked, “You just got back!”
Remus nodded, “Yeah, but I made these plans with her on Friday morning.”
Sirius rolled his eyes. “Can I go then?”
Remus thought for a second and then answered, “No.” He turned around to walk out of the room.
“Ugh, again? Please can I come with?” Sirius whined. It was like his mouth couldn’t be kept shut, or else he’d blow up.
“Fine, I don’t care. Come, don’t come. You’re not going to be reading anyway.” Remus rolled his eyes, opening the door.
Sirius quickly followed Remus, leaving James and Peter to exchange exasperated and confused glances.
“Oi, you don’t know that! I could read if I wanted to.” Sirius continued walking behind Remus. The baby duckling was back.
“Sure, mate. Sure.” Remus almost laughed.
“Well, whatever you think, I’m coming either way.” Sirius turned his nose up proudly.
Remus shook his head inhaling deeply, but continued walking. After a few minutes of walking in silence, Sirius broke it.
“So where’d you go last night? You can tell me, I can keep a secret.” He grinned.
“Shut up, Black.” Remus sighed, turning a corner with Sirius right on his heals.
“Did you get in a fight like James said?”
“Yeah, a perfectly well organised fight that I had planned out and told you I had to leave to fight.”
“Well, I don’t know!” Sirius flopped his arms up and down. “You’re weird.”
“Wow, thanks mate.” Remus smiled in false kindness. His joints still hurt and made him more irritable. “Would you mind, please, to just not speak for a few minutes, Sirius dearest?”
“You know, I’m not too keen on that name. How about ‘sir’?” Sirius grinned again.
Remus exhaled through his nose and continued walking in silence.
“Okay, so not ‘sir’. I’ll keep thinking.”
“Oh, I didn’t know you were capable of that.”
“What?”
“Thinking. You never do it, I just thought you were missing that part of your brain.”
Sirius stuck his tongue out and mocked Remus in a high tone.
Yeah, that’s mature. Remus thought, shaking his head.
They had finally made it to the library and Sirius managed to not speak for those few minutes. Remus was proud of his self-control.
“Hiya, Evans.” Remus smiled at Lily after he'd found her sitting at a desk in front of a window, reading some book that had a thickness diameter of 20 centimetres. Sirius immediately walked away to locate a Quidditch themed book, agreeing to find Remus and Lily later.
“Oh, hi Remus! I was told you were at the Hospital Wing, I didn’t know you were coming today.” She smiled back. She cleared a few papers away from the other side of the desk, a silent invitation for him to sit down.
“Yeah, I just wasn’t feeling so well. I’m fine now, though.” Remus responded, sitting down and taking out Where the Red Fern Grows.
“I’m sorry. Glad you’re better.” Lily said. Remus shook his hand, dismissing her in a kind manner. He didn’t want any apologies for his own condition.
“What’re you reading?” Remus changed the subject.
“Book of Potions, by Zygmunt Budge. Sev is really into potions, and he wants me to know more about them. I don’t really want to, but it’s a book either way. And it’s still interesting.” Lily lit up.
“Ah, that’s cool.” Remus nodded.
“What’s your book?” She asked, tilting her head to try look at the cover.
Remus picked up the book, and showed her it. “It’s a muggle one, called Where the Red Fern Grows .”
Lily smiled. “Looks fascinating.” Then turned back to her book. Remus was glad — the conversation-making was starting to wear him out.
An hour and a half later, Sirius never made it to Remus and Lily, and so the two packed up and started heading back down to the Gryffindor Common Room. Remus really enjoyed Lily’s company — she was nice and made it really easy to talk to.
After half an hour of enduring playing cards with James and Peter, Sirius finally returned to the common room, grinning widely.
“I just spent two hours in the library reading. Reading .” He bragged proudly to his friends. “It was about Quidditch, and mostly pictures, but still. ”
“Congratulations, mate.” James laughed.
“Super proud.” Remus smiled.
“Well done, Sirius.” Peter joined in.
“Cheers, lads. I’m rather proud of myself, too.” Sirius beamed, sitting down beside James and started absent-mindedly shuffling the cards. “I’ve never actually had the patience for a book before.”
“It’s strange that you’re so proud of reading .” Remus shook his head.
“Mate, this is Sirius Black we’re talking about.” James nodded at the still grinning Sirius.
“Ah, right right right.” Remus chuckled, picking up his deal of the cards. He was getting used to his friends.
“To be fair, I only hate reading because of the boring books I was forced to read at home.” Sirius went on, “It put me off completely, honestly.”
The group of kids spent the rest of their Sunday talking, playing cards, and just enjoying the first sunny day in September. Remus was really starting to enjoy his time at Hogwarts, even if the full moons were so hard to manage. He’d just have to come up with believable lies every month, and he’d be fine.
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