black coffee | remus lupin [2]

29. just a friend helping a friend

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AFTER A NIGHT OF helping a desperate and hurt Remus through the full moon, the boy was brought to Grimmauld Place by Claudia, James, Peter and a weary Sirius.

Walking past the kitchen filled with confused and worried people, they brought the now groaning yet basically asleep Remus upstairs and placed him in a bed in one of the random rooms none of them really knew the history of.

"So...what now?" Asked James as Sirius looked around his childhood bedroom with hints of tears forming in his eyes.

It looked completely different, yet all the same. As if his mother had tried to erase him from the room but someone had desperately tried to keep him around.

It was weird, that was for sure.

Claudia covered Remus in blankets and made him comfortable as James repeated his question, for she was far too distracted by the completely torn up boy in front of her, who didn't seem to have the slightest of idea of where he was, who he was and who everyone around him were.

He was complaining about being cold when he wasn't groaning or whimpering, but even so he was sweating enough to make Claudia very well aware of the fact that he was burning up.

And, just to add to that, he was covered in gashes and scars and veins...

To put it plainly, things weren't looking too good.

"What now?"

"I need to go home," said Peter, who was standing in the corner, refusing to look at Remus.

"Why?"

"Mum's waiting for me," he said, receiving a nod from Claudia, who honestly couldn't care about less where he went. But it would be rude to say that aloud, so she opted for simply nodding, and soon enough Peter was gone again.

"Should we go home too?" Asked James.

Claudia shrugged, now preparing a glass of water to put on the bedside table, "You do whatever you want. But, uh...it would be nice to have you here."

"Oh-"

"For Remus, I mean," she said as if she was embarrassed. "I think he'd want that. He'll probably be scared out of his mind if he wakes up to find himself in a house stuck with me and my family. But you don't have to, of course-"

"That's alright," said Sirius, finally looking at her after moments of just ignoring the others. "We can stay. Right, Prongs?"

"Yeah," James nodded with a small smile. "Sure. But I'm bloody tired after staying up all night. Is there anywhere I can sleep?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," Claudia nodded. "Just go down the hall, second to your right. There are two beds in there, and I think they're made already, so."

"Thanks, Claude," said James, patting her on the shoulder and kissing her temple. "He'll be okay, alright? Just like you were."