Of Finals and Full Moons
The final full moon of the school year fell scarcely a week before their NEWT exams started. Remus tried to insist that the Marauders didn't accompany him, didn't lose a night of sleep or waste their revision time, but - predictably - they were having none of it.
Equally as predictably, Remus's tiredness made his transformation that much more agonising, and his wolf that much more aggressive. The four of them covered miles of the Forbidden Forest, exploring further than they'd ever been previously. Remus's memory was patchy, but he knew they'd made it back to the Shrieking Shack in time for his transformation back, which was always worse.
It was past midday by the time he stirred, and groaned at the ache in his joints. He hovered there, somewhere between conscious and not, for what seemed like hours, aware only of dull pain. His semi-conscious state recognised the sterile smell of the hospital wing and, eventually, he blinked his way through the fog of sleep into the land of the uncursed.
He winced when, on trying to sit up, a sharp pain rushed through his left side, taking his breath away.
"Ah, ah," Madame Pomfrey tutted. "Gently now - broken ribs. I can't heal them properly until you've got the weight off your ribcage - otherwise you'll always have a lopsidedness."
Remus grunted a low chuckle that was in deference to his many scars, which already made him lopsided, and pushed himself upright with gritted teeth. "How?" He asked.
"No idea," Poppy replied briskly. "I never know how you get half the injuries you get. Episkey."
Remus cried out as, one by one, his ribs knitted back into alignment and reattached to his sternum with a staccato of pops.
"Alright, come on in," Poppy called, offering him a pain relief potion and turning away. He downed it with a grimace.
The Marauders and Lily piled into the hospital wing without ceremony and climbed into his bed; Lily magically widened it, for which Remus's sore bones were eternally thankful. Sirius had dark circles under his eyes and James the wan waxiness that came with too little sleep; Peter looked, as ever, more ratlike than human. Thankfully, they all seemed uninjured.
Tears pricked his eyes as he realised his friends were settling in for the long haul. "You should all be in the library," he muttered. "Biggest exams of your life in a few days and you're with me in the hospital wing. Again."
"Don't think you're getting rid of us and getting out of revising yourself," Lily said severely, pulling a small bag into view and reaching impossibly far into it. "We've brought the library to you."
She produced an improbable number of books from the tiny bag, grinning somewhat smugly as she spread them across the white sheets. Remus's tears fell unchecked, for this was only Lily's third full moon since being let in on his furry little secret, and she'd been nothing but endlessly supportive throughout.
"Thank you," he choked. He had no better words, despite these feeling insufficient for his emotions.
The ensuing cuddle pile was the only thing that held him together when he felt he was coming apart at the seams - just as it had for seven years. Just as he hoped it
would for many sevens more.