fatal love

Chapter 19

The aftermath of April Fools left the Marauders more well-known, and even more popular, than ever. Two weeks detention had never been so easy, when everyday random students came up to Sirius to congratulate him, or the odd Ravenclaw asked him how on earth he had done it. He was firmly back in Slytherin's bad books, but the glares that Rosier and Wilkes sent him only added to his satisfaction.

The high he was riding on, however, came to an abrupt end with April's full moon. Remus had left them the previous night, as normal, but when the three of them came to visit him the next day, Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let them in.

"I'm very sorry," she said, and she sounded sincere, even if she was speaking hurriedly, "it was a very bad night last night, and he's in a bit of an unstable condition right now, I've had to put him under Draught of Living Death, to let his body focus on healing him."

"What?" Sirius exclaimed. "Will he be okay? When can we see him?"

"If he carries on like he is, he'll be just fine," Pomfrey assured them, "but he won't be having visitors anytime soon. I'll get Professor McGonagall to let you know when you can come back." With that, she shut the door in their faces.

"Do you think he'll be alright?" Peter asked anxiously.

"Yeah, course he will," said James, but he was lacking his usual confidence. "He's always alright - he's Remus."

The full moon had been on a Tuesday, and Remus didn't return until Saturday night. Sirius had spent the week fretfully taking notes for him (it was all he could think to do) and hadn't spoken to anyone other than James or Pete. He couldn't bear the thought of Remus all alone in the Hospital Wing, possibly clinging to his life. He kept a mantra going in his head; Moony will be okay, Moony will be okay, Moony will be okay, but it didn't help.

He already didn't get much sleep, and with his worries about Remus, he found it harder than ever. Most nights, when James and Pete were already snoring, and the Common Room was empty, he took Remus' record player down there and listened to an album. He usually ended up thinking about their first night back at Hogwarts, in September, when Remus had dragged him down to listen to Ziggy Stardust, how he'd told Sirius he'd missed him over summer. Sirius missed Remus now.

It was late Saturday night, or possibly early Sunday morning, and Sirius was in the Common Room again, Bowie crooning softly in the background, when a figure crept in through the portrait.

"Remus?" Sirius asked immediately, "is that you?"

"Sirius? What are you doing up?"

The room was dark, and Sirius couldn't make out much more than an outline at this distance, but Remus' voice was hoarse and scratchy.

"I couldn't sleep. We've all been so worried about you, Moony. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Remus whispered, "you should go to bed."

"Will you... will you sit with me for a minute?"

Remus hesitated, but he nodded, and slowly walked over to the sofa. As he got closer, and Sirius could see him more clearly, he had to stop himself from gasping. There was a long, thin scar, slicing diagonally across Remus' face, from just above one eyebrow to halfway down the other cheek.

"Moony... what happened?"

Remus grimaced. "It was a bad moon. I tore my face up pretty good - Pomfrey says I'm lucky to only get the one scar." He shrugged. "Was bound to happen sooner or later, I guess."

Sirius wanted to reach out and run his finger down it, but he didn't. "Why was it a bad moon?" he asked.

"The wolf was more angry, I guess. Maybe there were people in the Forest it could smell or something. But Pomfrey reckons I'll have more bad moons as I get older, because the wolf is getting older too. That means more... bloodthirsty."