Sanctuary

Chapter 48

Sunday, 24th September 1972

'Oh!' Remus said, suddenly sitting up straight in the hospital bed. 'Did you remember to get the daisies?'

Sirius rolled his eyes and swallowed his mouthful of chocolate. 'Course, we did. James and Pete went out around one, after Moony had settled down.'

'We'll go finish the potion when Pomfrey kicks us out,' James said. He was sprawled across the foot of Remus' bed on his stomach, kicking his legs in the air. 'Hopefully, we'll have time to test it out tonight.'

Remus nodded, settling back against the pillows and wincing. 'That gives us five evenings to practise before the Hunt. I hope it's enough time. It'll be embarrassing if we can't control the armour properly. Especially when so many people have signed up to take part.'

'Can you believe how many people have signed the sheet?' Peter asked from his perch on the windowsill. 'And we only put them up three days ago.'

'I reckon it's all thanks to my incredible poster designs,' Sirius said smugly, attempting to subtly shift closer to Remus on the bed. The closer he was, the more his scent would help ease his pain. And Remus might say he was fine, but Sirius saw his grimace every time he moved.

James laughed. 'Sure, Twinkles. It's nothing to do with the excitement of new Chiefs. It's all because of your drawings of nifflers.'

'They are super cute,' Peter said. 'And infusing them with our personalities was inspired.'

'Yeah, except mine just curls up in the corner and sleeps all day,' Remus said, chuckling.

'Which the girls find adorable,' Sirius said. 'I heard a bunch of them cooing over the napping niffler yesterday.' Personally, he found Remus' niffler adorable too, but he wasn't about to admit that out loud.

They all looked towards the door at the sound of it opening and Madam Pomfrey poked her head in. 'Right you three, time for you to go. Remus needs to rest, and the ward's empty right now.'

They all groaned but moved to obey, knowing if they didn't, she might not let them visit him on the next full moon. And that was the last thing Sirius wanted. Being able to be with him and see with his own eyes that he was okay was not something he was prepared to give up.

'How long until you let him out?' Peter asked, jumping down from the windowsill and grabbing his bag.

'A few more hours, I think.'

'Alright. Well, you know where to find us, Moony,' James said with a wink. 'See you later.'

Sirius squeezed Remus' hand before climbing off the bed. 'Bye, Wolf Boy. Get some more sleep, yeah?'

Remus nodded. 'I will. Thanks for coming.'

'You can keep the rest of that chocolate,' Peter said. 'I know it helps. See you later.'

Once out of the Hospital Wing, Sirius, James and Peter hurried up the Grand Staircase to the black door. As they approached, James pulled the penknife from the side pocket of his bag and flipped it open. He slipped the blade into the crack at the side of the door, moving it down in search of the latch. At the sound of a click, he pushed, and the door swung open revealing the Den, one wall partially decorated with winding vines blooming with flowers.

They all dumped their bags in the corner, James and Peter pulling out their robes first. Brewing without them was a bad idea, even if they didn't expect anything to go wrong. The school robes were enchanted with all kinds of protective spells to prevent serious injury or death from potions gone awry, or their ingredients. Sirius didn't bother getting his out. The potion didn't need all of them working on it, and he planned to continue work on the vines instead.