Boys Will Be Bugs

Chapter 87: Marijuana

The next full moon didn't go particularly well. He must have been particularly restless because when he woke up the next morning he was in quite a large amount of pain. There were cuts and bruises all over his skin, and his back ached terribly. When he stood up, a burning pain shot through his back legs and he winced. He rubbed a particularly sore point just above his hips, trying to soothe the muscles, but he was still forced to limp his way back to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey was worried that he had damaged one of his discs or something, and she instructed him to rest for at least the next day or two. After a good night's sleep and a few potions later, he felt much better, but he didn't know how long that was going to last.

It couldn't have been good for him, transforming every month, spending hours afterwards lying still in a hospital bed. All those years putting such strain on his body was finally coming back to bite him in the arse, and he was nowhere near as active as he once was. It worried him more than anything, but it also made him feel pretty weak. He had all of these werewolf powers, all the strengths that came with it, but once he was back in his human form he was as feeble as anything.

He wished the potions didn't have to wear off. He wished he knew what the fuck was wrong with his body, and he wished he could make it stop. It wasn't long before his friends noticed that something was wrong. He was struggling to keep up with them as much as he used to, and he was always stretching and massaging his neck and shoulders.

"Rough full moon?" asked James. The full moon had been a few days ago now, but sometimes the affects lasted for quite some time afterwards. Remus nodded.

"It's fine, I'm just... more tired than normal." His assurances didn't assuage their concerns, since he was notoriously bad at letting them know when something was wrong with him. As a result, they kept an annoyingly close eye on him throughout the day. He tried to shake them off, ignore their worried glances and continue pretending that he was fine. He was really just trying to ignore the whole situation; perhaps if he kept telling himself he was fine, it'd come true. He insisted to himself that he didn't need to slow down, or limit his hours at the pub in the evenings, or go to bed early, or sit down outside of class. He was fine.

"I wish you'd tell me what was wrong," said Sirius. It was nighttime, and Remus had crawled into bed at twelve am after a few hours tending the bar. The bar wasn't so bad, what with the barstool he used to sit on while pouring drinks and cleaning glasses, although the stool did get quite uncomfortable after a while. He considered asking Selene if she could make it more supportive on his back, which ached so easily nowadays, but he didn't want to cause her any alarm and jeopardise his job, so he remained silent.

"Nothing's wrong," replied Remus, his voice as monotonous as always.

"Don't lie. Please stop lying to me, Remus, I know you're not fine." Remus sighed. He supposed it couldn't hurt to talk to Sirius for a bit, and he was getting tired of bottling everything up all the time. It just made him angry, and he really needed to keep a hold of his temper sometimes, especially with his friends. He sat up, the pillow behind him feeling nice against his back.

"I suppose it's just... the full moon."

"What about it?"

"I think it's starting to affect my body more and more lately." Sirius looked at him, concern in his eyes and prompting Remus to continue. "My muscles just keep seizing up a lot and my back is killing me."

"Have you talked to Madam Pomfrey?"

"Yeah, and she's given me these potions to numb the pain, but they don't last forever. They wear off after a few hours."

"Well, is there anything else she can do?" Remus just shrugged.

"Not really. She doesn't know what's wrong with me, so painkillers are the only option right now."