Bloody Hell
Remus stumbled out of bed, the whole dormitory was empty. He had assumed that they had probably already gone to lessons, because when he looked at the time, it read: seven fifty one. Breakfast began at seven, and the first class of the day was at eight. Post was delivered at seven thirty, but who would write to Remus, anyway? He knew that he could probably make it in time, but didn't fancy repotting the mandrakes yet again. So he decided, that of course, he would ditch first period. Being the night of the full moon, his bones ached as he pulled his uniform on, and he groaned.
Remus strolled around the castle, admiring the walls surrounding him. He considered visiting Trickster, but had decided that he would do it at lunch, since he hadn't any food to give to him. Trickster was now learning how to bite hard, even Remus was recovering slower. He felt as if his friends were growing suspicious, save Peter, of course. James had pestered him on his quick recovering, whilst Sirius had just been observing his actions closely.
Remus continued adventuring around the castle, and he eventually went to the outskirts of the forbidden forest to rest against a tree whilst everybody else was in herbology. At some point, he had to of drifted off, because he woke up with sweat sticking to his skin, a few leaves in his hair and dried drool on his chin. Gross. Remus wiped his chin with his sleeve, and heaved himself up. Judging by the sun's position in the sky, he assumed that it was by now third period. He hadn't planned on skipping defence, but wasn't particularly a bad mistake. Although, he knew that his dorm mates would insist on an explanation, and the truth was quite humiliating.
He made his way towards the castle, and attempted to slip into history of magic unnoticed. Professor Binns was waffling about some sort of deceased witch or another, and so Remus just took an empty seat in the back corner. The creaking of the chair caught some student's attention, and he gritted his teeth together, trying to be discreet. Sirius Black caught his eye, he was a few rows ahead. Sirius seemed to mouth something to Remus, but the werewolf was too sleepy to understand. As soon as Professor Binns turned his ghostly back to him, Sirius darted towards Remus, and took the unoccupied seat next to him.
"Where have you been?" He whispered, in a hushed voice. Remus could sense the concern and urgency, so he decided to tell him a white lie.
"I slept in, and visited Trickster." He bit the inside of his cheek, and Sirius cocked an eyebrow at him. Remus had hoped that Sirius didn't notice this very obvious tell, but he seemed to have a strike of luck as Sirius didn't bring it up again for he rest of the lesson. After history of magic was finished, Remus, Sirius, James and Peter all walked to transfiguration together, engaging in far from insightful conversation.
"Mate if you're gonna square someone, do it in the jaw!" Remus argued, earning him a disapproving scoff from Peter.
"Are you daft? Obviously you should punch the stomach, it makes them cough up their insides!" Peter shouted back, pretending to throw up, which made Remus laugh for once. Remus had quite an exciting time with this chat. He could hear Sirius and James whispering to each other, about Remus and Peter being psychopathic, but Remus didn't quite care.
"Pete, I had no clue you fought," James said, sounding astonished. Peter shrugged, and made a grunting noise.
"If someone hits you first, hit them back, that's what dad says." He responded, and Remus felt a twinge of jealousy whenever parents were mentioned, it felt like a knot turning and twisting in his stomach. He knew that his father could never come back, but he still held onto the hope that his mother would return to him. Although, why would she?
"Do you think my ma would come back for me?" Remus asked the group, which clearly caught them off guard. Everybody avoided eye contact and tensed up, except for James. He was the most loyal, Remus learnt. He fought back the tears which threatened to fall from his eyes, awaiting a response.
"Of course! You're awesome," James responded, sounding almost as hopeful - if not more - than Remus was. "And even if she doesn't," He started, and Remus cringed, "Then I'm sure my parents would adopt you! Then we'd be like, brothers!" James was beginning to get excited over this, Remus knew deep down that this was impossible, but he didn't want to extinguish the little hope which Remus clutched onto as well.
When they finally arrived at transfiguration, Mcgonagall removed five points from them for being late, although Remus didn't care about the house cup. He thought that it was just a scam made up by whoever founded the school to motivate students into behaving well. "Please take out your cups, and Mr. Black, I'd appreciate if you didn't pass notes in my class," She said in a shrivelled voice, and almost everybody in the class, including Remus, turned to face Sirius, who was frozen in his tracks with his hand clutching onto a balled up piece of parchment.
"Miss, how did you do that?" Lily Evans asked, and Professor Mcgonagall looked more than happy to answer.
"When you're as experienced as me, you get special senses," Her eyes flickered over to Remus for a split second, but nobody seemed to notice, except for James who gave him a confused look. "Such as knowing when something is going on behind your back." She said, before aiming her wand at two Ravenclaws who were attempting to hide a stink bomb under the desk.
"Aw miss!" One of them yelled, he was quite pretty, Remus thought. The Ravenclaw boy had long, blonde hair which fell down below his shoulders, long eyelashes, amber eyes and very feminine features. Although, he was undeniably a boy. Remus didn't see him thinking of this Ravenclaw as attractive to be weird, since he was so feminine. The other was also strikingly handsome, he had a defined jawline, fluffy brunette hair, tanned skin and crooked teeth. Remus found the corners of his lips twitching upwards as he stared at the two boys, before shaking his head to awaken himself from these weird thoughts. Remus shrugged off the feeling and attempted to transfigure his goblet into a wooden slab.
He successfully accomplished it on his second attempt, earning ten points to Gryffindor and a look of awe from his friends. Remus just shrugged and watched James next to him attempt it was well. He noticed Sirius cheering from behind him a few minutes later, and James joined in his celebration shortly after.
Peter had no such luck. The class finished, and he had to take it home for homework. "I'll help you when we get back, Pete!" Sirius proudly exclaimed, and Peter nervously thanked him.
They all made their way to the great hall, and Remus got his satchel and began filling it with different assortments of meats and potatoes. They were Trickster's favourites. "What are you doing?" Sirius asked, judgementally.
"I'm gonna visit Trickster," Remus simply replied, before pulling himself up and exiting the Great Hall. He could sense Sirius' gaze still on his back, so he hurried out of there. His heightened senses could sometimes be a disadvantage, specially around a full moon. He climbed the moving staircases, praying to Godric that they wouldn't shift whilst he was making his voyage.
Remus wondered into the room of requirement as normal, although the gory sight awaiting him was far from what he would've ever expected. He let out an ear piercing, gut wrenching cry, as he sprinted across the dusty room. Trickster lay on the splintering floor boards, blood oozing from a deep gash in his stomach. The crimson sludge fell from his mouth as well, and Remus resisted the immense urge to throw up all over himself. Instead, he scooped Trickster into his arms, cradling him, and hurried out of the room and towards the hospital wing.
He had tucked the dragon beneath his cloak, in hopes that nobody would comment on the abnormally sized lump which was in his arms. He burst into the Hospital wing, fighting back the fiery tears which burned his icy eyes. "Miss!" He cried out, frantically searching the room for the nurse. Without luck, he gently placed Trickster onto the hospital bed, and bit his lip in fear. Where was she?
Suddenly, the door creaked open quietly yet noticeably, and Madam Pomfrey crept in, trying to not wake any sleeping patients. Remus ran up to her, and tugged on her sleeve, terrified. "Remus? I wasn't expecting you for a few more hours but," She started, as Remus dragged her towards where the lifeless dragon lay. "Oh my." She stated clearly, and her eyes darted back to Remus, who was now choking up, unable to resist the urge to break down for his first true friend. "Alert Dumbledore, I'll help it." She said.
"Him," Remus corrected her angrily, "Trickster is a him." She apologised and ushered him out of the room so she could begin her work. Remus angrily obliged, upset that he had to leave Trickster's side. He dashed up the staircase, and when he arrived at the headmaster's office, he realised that he hadn't a clue what the password was. Dumbledore enjoyed sweets, right?
"Every flavour beans, lemon drops, chocolate frogs," To his surprise, it opened on his third guess, and he rushed inside. Dumbledore was sat at his desk, waiting expectantly as if he had known that Remus would come bursting in.
"Ah, Mr. Lupin, might I help you?" He politely asked, and Remus explained the whole situation as simply and broken down as possible. How he had stumbled on the room of requirement, how he had been friends with Trickster -excluding how he took the dragon on walks- and the state in which he had found his friend in this afternoon. Dumbledore muttered in understanding, "I see, lead the way then," The man simply said, stroking his silver beard, and Remus nodded seriously.
He took the headmaster (who hadn't commented on the fact that Remus was missing lessons) to the hospital wing, where they both found Madam Pomfrey standing over the dragon with her hand over her mouth. "What's wrong? Is he..." Remus started, and Madam Pomfrey shook her head, tears dripping down her cheek.
"Oh it's awful," Remus gasped, but she frantically reassured him, "he won't die, but someone did want him too. I found traces of a cutting curse on his stomach, someone wanted this baby dragon dead." Her voice broke on the last few words, and Remus found himself collapsing onto the floor. He wasn't fainting, but it felt like his whole body was shutting down. Not only his body, but his mind as well.
Somebody knew. Somebody knew about Trickster. But worse, somebody wanted this innocent creature dead and they had come close due to Remus' carelessness. Thoughts rushed through his mind whilst the bright light of daylight peaked into his eyelids which had found their way shut. He squinted. Remus didn't care that he was lying in a hospital bed next to his dragon right now, at least he was with him.
And it would stay that way, Remus would make sure of it.