Four To The End (prev Shifting Lines) Book Three (Marauders Era)

Chapter Twenty-Three - Theorize That Magic, Yeah!

Author's Note: My plan for December is to post a chapter every Tuesday with a bonus chapter on Christmas; I'm hoping in January I can return to the one-two-one-two style I was doing but I don't want to overdo it right now. Thank y'all for your patience, love, and support!

CW: reference to unintentional self-harm (scratching self).

-x-

Remus woke up with a loud cry of 'no!'. He sat upright, panting hard as he stared at the darkness, trying to remember where he was. Bed, Hogwarts. Not—

It had been similar to the one from the summer, with Remus being thrown to the wolf. He thought maybe there had been more to the nightmare but it was beginning to go fuzzy.

Ugh. He curled forward, rubbing his head. A week. A week with only vague nightmares and nothing too intrusive and now he was back to having awful ones. He had hoped that with the start of school they'd stop, but it looked like that wasn't going to happen.

"Remus?"

Suppressing a sigh, Remus pushed his curtains aside to let Sirius climb into his bed. "I didn't think I was that loud," he whispered as Sirius climbed over his legs to sit cross-legged at his feet.

"You were whimpering a lot," Sirius replied. "Tossing and turning."

"Oh."

Sirius pushed his hair back, silvery eyes glinting in what little light reached Remus's bed. "This is the first one you've had since coming back to school, isn't it?"

Remus shrugged, pushing himself back to sit against the headboard. "The first to wake me up like this. What time is it?"

"About two."

He rubbed his eyes. He'd have to get up in a little over four hours, and had only gone to sleep about two hours before. Astronomy tomorrow night too, he reminded himself, feeling very exhausted. If he dropped Arithmancy he could at least sleep in an extra hour on Tuesday morning...

"What are you shaking your head about?" Sirius asked.

Remus realized he had been very quiet. "Oh. Nothing. I'm just really tired, and already done with this week." He did give a sigh now, drawing his knees to his chest. "At least I'll get plenty of sleep in the hospital wing."

Sirius's brow furrowed. "You're doing too much, aren't you? Didn't you sign up for that magic lecture thing too?"

"Magical Theory," Remus corrected. "Yes. The first one is this Saturday."

"You're going to miss the Quidditch tryouts then," Sirius said.

Remus felt his heart sinking slightly. He had already forgotten that the Gryffindor tryouts were Saturday evening. "They'll do Chasers last, won't they?" he asked hesitantly. "I might be able to make it. I'll try to. Besides, there's no way James won't make it. It's more or less only to find a replacement for... er, Litten."

"Yeah," Sirius agreed. "I'm sure James will understand." That made the guilt worse. "Slytherin tryouts are in the afternoon," Sirius continued when Remus remained silent. "Want to sneak in with me?"

"Er." Remus hesitated, not really sure why Sirius was asking. "I can, yes."

"Oh, didn't you hear?" Sirius smiled, looking rather amused. "Silverlocke is trying out. I thought you'd like to see."

Remus straightened up. Aegis was trying out for the team? He had mentioned it the previous year when talking about trying to fit in with the Slytherins more but Remus hadn't been sure how serious Aegis was. It looked like he was very serious. "I didn't know. Yeah, I'd really like to be there for him. Are we taking the cloak?"