Boys Will Be Bugs

Chapter 8: Talking

Madam Pomfrey was there when he woke up. He was very disorientated at first, not knowing at all where he was. He was lying on some musty wooden floorboards, and dust was trapped in the strips of sunlight peaking through a cracked and grimy window. Something eventually stirred in his memory: The Shrieking Shack. He must have been in the Shrieking Shack.

The next thing he noticed was some sort of of blanket lying on top of him, covering his body instead of his clothes which were undeniably ripped to shreds.

"Good morning, love." He looked in the direction of the voice. Madam Pomfrey was kneeling before him. "I've brought you a change of clothes." She held up the neat pile of white and blue material that was resting on her lap. "Are you hurt?" Remus fought to clear the fog in his head, making everything feel saturated. Was he hurt? As if answering the question, parts of his body began to sting. His chest, his ankle, his arms. He had cuts all over, and possibly a sprain. Nothing out of the ordinary. He nodded his head. "Are you able to get changed by yourself? Then I can help you to the hospital wing. It's early, so no one's awake yet."

"I can get changed." His voice was rough, cracked, almost inaudible. He was thirsty.

"Okay then, I'll be right outside the door if you need anything." She stepped out of the room as Remus pulled off the blanket. He inspected his cuts. They weren't too deep, nor were they bleeding too much, but the red stained his skin, making it look much worse than it was. Still seated, he picked up the change of clothes left beside him. They were a pair of pale blue and white pyjamas, and they were very soft. He slipped on the shirt, wincing slightly as the material came into contact with the open wounds on his torso. He then gingerly stood up, trying his weight on his ankle. It hurt, but it didn't buckle. Just a minor sprain. He could walk at least.

He finished changing and went to meet Madam Pomfrey outside.

"Do you need any help, dear?" she asked as soon as she saw him.

"No, I'm alright, thanks." Her wand was lit and Remus could finally get a good look at the tunnel. There wasn't much to see, it was mainly just a highway of twisted roots and dirt, and it was shorter than Remus had remembered. It wasn't long before they emerged into the crisp autumn air and early morning sunlight. The journey back to the hospital wing was longer, and the more he walked on his ankle, the more it started to hurt. He had to hide his slight limp, not wanting Madam Pomfrey to make a fuss.

The hospital wing was not empty, but thankfully, the few patients that were there were fast asleep, and so didn't notice them entering. Madam Pomfrey led him to the bed at the end of the wing and closed the curtains around it as he sunk into the covers. It was even softer than his bed in his dorm room, and he wondered if a charm had been put upon it.

Now that Madam Pomfrey had resumed her role as nurse, she became much more strict. Remus's shirt needed to come off so she could fix his cuts; his ankle was sprained and she reprimanded him for walking on it.

"Am I going back to class today?" he asked, buttoning his shirt back up.

"Absolutely not," Madam Pomfrey replied. "You need your rest. You can return tomorrow, but today I want to see you sleeping, young man."

Remus was sure he wouldn't be able to sleep, what with everything that had happened. It had been his first transformation at Hogwarts after all: there was way too much to think about. But the strain that transforming had on his body always left him shattered, and he simply couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. He soon fell into a dreamless sleep.

When he eventually woke, he wasn't surprised to find that it was almost getting dark outside. He usually slept this long after a full moon, though he never felt quite refreshed afterwards. He'd missed dinner, but a plate had been left on his bedside table, kept warm with a charm, and a goblet of pumpkin juice to go with it. He was glad to see that his dinner mostly consisted of meat. The days surrounding the full moon always left him with a craving for it, to the point where he struggled to eat anything else, especially vegetables, which all just tasted like bland leaves during the full moon. He didn't take long to finish his dinner, starving as he was, and Madam Pomfrey soon popped through the curtains to clear up, and to tell him off for eating too fast, which he didn't feel guilty about at all, but he thanked her nonetheless.