SEA, SWALLOW ME, remus lupin

còig deug, nocturnal me

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
nocturnal me

                           𖦹 ⋆｡˚⋆ฺ ⋆｡˚⋆ฺ˚⋆˚ 𖦹

  "HOW ARE YOU FEELING?"

Cove glances up at Remus from the horoscope she's skim reading, moving to dog ear the page of her magazine and face him properly. Dewy light invited in by the chilly noon moves to flutter over his face, the gauze that mummifies him crisp yet dappled with the odd speckle of scarlet. His skin is pale and smeared with imperfections from a strenuous night out in the forest, though some colour is beginning to return to his cheeks after getting in a solid few hours of sleep.

It was the first thing he'd really said to her all day, his voice croaky and strained from the incessant howling. She can tell that he's bothered by what she did, his stare boring holes into the duvet across his legs as a trillion unspoken words whir past in his head.

"Och, none of that," Cove mutters, leaning over to fuss with his covers and adjust his pillows. "I should be the one asking how you're doing."

He swats her hand away, stifling a wince at the way it makes his stitches burn. He fiddles with his fingers anxiously, only for Pip to knock her head against the back of his split knuckle until he scratches behind her tufty auburn ear. He holds Pip a little more securely to his chest, his breaths falling in time with her deep purring. It's like he's afraid to stay still, constantly finding something new to fumble with to keep his bandaged hands in motion.

"You already know my answer," Remus replies, moving to twist the fraying hem of his pyjama top. "I've—"

"—been better," she finishes in unison with him. She rolls her eyes playfully. "I know, I know."

Cove had come to visit him during her free period after breakfast, swanning around the Hospital Wing frantically to try and make him feel more comfortable despite her own injuries, no matter how he tried to shut down all her efforts. She also managed to sneak him a cauldron cake or two under Pomfrey's nose, but that's neither here nor there.

She can tell that he's been worrying about her just as much, if not more, for a multitude of different reasons. He was already stressed about her being near him during the full moon, let alone being chased by him, but his worries were only doubled at the state she'd found herself in that morning.

He'd been retold it all, courtesy of Peter. At the crack of dawn, Madam Pomfrey had to bear witness to three teenagers stumbling into the Hospital Wing just as she was going out to retrieve Remus from where she thought he was spending the full moon inside the Shrieking Shack, rendered speechless at the sight of them so battered and bruised.

They'd covered Remus up with spare clothes that Peter had prepared earlier, but they all still looked a state — the werewolf in question was a bleeding mess of fresh cuts, broken bones and nausea from such inexperienced apparating, whilst Peter and Cove were equally riddled with tangled hair and dirty uniforms from their night spent tumbling through the woods. Cove was also drenched head to toe in icy lake water, as well as riddled with minor injuries from her adventures.

Well, most of them were minor, anyway.

Cove and Peter had used their combined efforts and the basic knowledge from their compulsory apparition classes to bring Remus back to the castle, only for Cove to get splinched upon landing. Her shoulder had practically been severed from the rest of her body and required stitches as soon as possible, but she had insisted that Remus got medical attention first. He's been cross with her for hours ever since he found out about it.