Vexing Me (Remus Lupin)

Chapter 13

Suri could hear everything.

"She hasn't woken up for two weeks, Moony. C'mon. You can't stay here like this."

That was Sirius Black's voice. He was too caring and gentle to have been her attacker. Besides, his relationship with Remus was far too strong. He wouldn't have put that on the line just to get a kick out of it.

James Potter, however, had not stopped by to see Remus at all, who had been waiting by her side for as long as she knew. She couldn't open her eyes or move yet but once she had somewhat regained consciousness, she heard him being bribed to move.

He didn't.

James' lack of support made him Suri's prime suspect.

"Listen, Moony... I know you think Prongs did this, but would he really?"

She heard Remus scoff and push his chair either forwards or backwards, she didn't know.

"Who else hates Suri that much?" Remus said, the disappointment in his friend's lack of reinforcement of his suggestion clear. "No one else would have a reason to do to this. Hell, not even James does!"

"Okay, Moony. We'll find out soon enough. I'll leave you be," Sirius told him before presumably walking out of the room. As soon as his footsteps faded, Remus' hand reached out for the injured girl's.

"I miss you, Suri."

No matter how much Suri wanted to finally utter those words back, she couldn't. Her lips wouldn't oblige and her hands wouldn't let her grip his fingers tighter to let him know that she was okay.

"Remus, sweetie," the nurse said, appearing seemingly out of nowhere. "Don't you think you should get some rest?"

"I'm all right, ma'am. Is it all right if I stay here?"

She could hear the smile in the matron's voice. "If you insist."

Remus began to whisper to her, gently. Although he was calm, there was hints of a sob in his voice every so often. Suri wanted to tell him that she wasn't going to die. She wanted to tell him that she appreciated him. She wanted to tell him:

I lo- she thought, but she was cut off by Remus' speech.

"Suri, please wake up. They're doing everything they can and you should wake up any second now. Promise you'll wake me up straight away if you do wake up, okay? Suri, I really care about you. Nothing has hurt as much as this. And when you wake up, I have a few things I ought to explain."

His voice dulled until finally, he was quiet. Suri twitched my fingers, finally feeling some form of touch and movement in them, but she wasn't entirely sure whether she was just dreaming. Confusion hit her. It was almost obviously James who had attacked her, but like Remus said, did he really use his hatred as an excuse for such a wretched thing?

"Sweetheart, you should really wake up soon," the matron whispered. She had spoken suddenly and her body jolted at the sound. 

"Remus!" She squeaked, and Suri heard her move to the opposite side of the bed clumsily, a strange occurrence for a woman so light on her feet. "Mr Lupin, I think she's waking up."

A slight grumble was returned by Suri's saviour. She inwardly chuckled at the thought - it seemed like no matter what she was doing, Remus was always there to get her out of it.

She cracked her eyes open only to slam them shut again. It was dark, but the dull light of the room was enough for Suri to need to clamp her eyelids together. Remus gasped at the same time as the nurse, who rushed to her side.

"Are you feeling okay? Don't sit up just yet," she rushed, holding Suri's shoulders down lightly. The matron's fingers touched her temple, pressing lightly. Relief rushed through the patient and although she knew the nurse wasn't using magic, she couldn't help but think it felt like she was. 

As soon as the matron left her side, Remus approached.

"I won't ever let this happen again, Suri," he told his girl quietly, his voice trembling along with his lips as he spoke. "I have a lot of explaining to do."