Eye of the Serpent | HP MARAUDER ERA [2]

Chapter Twenty-Two

The morning after the full moon, I awoke extra early to head down to the Hospital Wing to visit Remus. I got dressed and left my dormitory, only to find James, Sirius and Peter asleep on the couch and on the floor in front of the hearth. There was light snoring coming from one of them, and I was fairly certain that it was Peter. Besides them, the common room was empty since everyone else was probably still sleeping.

I attempted to tiptoe over to them quietly so as not to wake them, but as I did so, James stirred in his sleep and sat up slowly.

"Bianca?" he mumbled once he saw me, looking confused. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me, in case you've forgotten what I look like," I replied, knowing he probably couldn't see my face properly without his glasses on.

"Morning," he said, his mouth curling into a small smile.

"Good morning, James," I said softly. "Did you sleep OK down here?"

"Eh, not really. I wish we had made it all the way up to the boys' dormitory last night, but we were so exhausted that we sort of just passed out here. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time, but it definitely won't be the last."

He rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands.

"Damn, I'm completely blind... Bianca, can you please pass me my glasses? They're on the table... somewhere," he said, pointing towards a table.

I got up and plucked his glasses off of the table, handing them to a squinting James. He put them on and attempted to stand up from the couch while a sleeping Peter hugged his leg from the other side of the couch. James tried to shake him off, but Peter only held on tighter, smiling pleasantly in his sleep.

James sighed in defeat and slumped back onto the couch.

I smiled slightly. "Is he always that cuddly in his sleep?" I asked James, gesturing to Peter.

He nodded. "Sometimes he's even worse than this... Whenever I go to wake him up for breakfast, he'll start hugging me so much that he'll pull me into bed with him. I usually end up falling asleep right beside him after that." He grinned. "Petey can cuddle with even the most uptight person. Moony, Padfoot and I have all ended up sleeping next to him at some point throughout the years."

James's gaze wandered down to the floor to Sirius, who was sleep just underneath the couch. He frowned.

"Poor bloke. He can't be comfortable there..."

He finally pulled his leg free from Peter's grip and got down from the couch, only to lift Sirius onto it. He slumped to the floor and I sat down next to him.

"How was the full moon last night?" I whispered. "Was it one of the bad ones for him?"

"No, it wasn't too bad this time," said James. "It was one of the better ones. Times like this remind us all why we chose to become Animagi... It really does help him. Being in the presence of other animals calms him. Anyway, I think he'll be out of the Hospital Wing rather quickly today."

"I hope so," I said. "I was going to go see him."

"Hang on, I'll come with. I'm just going to wake these lumps up." James prodded Sirius in the side with his foot, but Sirius didn't budge. "D'you want to help?"