Lady Lion [Sirius Black] [DISCONTINUED]

XXII

It was in the evening when Callie went back to the hospital wing, and Remus already was looking much better. Sure, there were scars on his face and bruises seen on his body, but he looked as though he had some life back in him; he was much more himself. The moon was in the sky, yet not full, and that relieved Remus more than anything.

"Callie, hi." Remus said as the girl came into his sight. He was a mixture of emotions when it came to her: although he knew that Callie was okay knowing Remus' condition, he couldn't help but have this fear that eventually it would scare off one of his closest friends. Even if she did come from a family where a werewolf was present.

"How are you Remus?" she asked, sitting on the edge of his bed and looking at him. She grabbed his hand, inspecting the one cut on that back of it that was surrounded by bruises.

"Oh, just dandy." He told her, a slight smile on his face as he was amused with himself. "I could go be the Quidditch captain right now, just watch."

There was a pause after his response, building the suspense up to what Callie had came to ask him about. She fiddled with his fingers as she spoke, "Are you going to tell the rest of them?"

He truly didn't know what to say, because he didn't have a plan. He didn't want to have a plan. Telling people about his lycantrophy was not what he had hoped to do when he came to Hogwarts; the only student who knew was Callie, and that was due to her own experiences with werewolves. "Are you?" he asked instead.

Callie sat there, biting her lip as she was deep in thought. "Well, Lily and Mercia already know, a well as you. I don't really have a reason to tell the rest of them, and quite honestly I really don't want to. No, I'm not going to."

Remus wouldn't admit it to Callie, but it was disheartening to hear that she didn't want to tell the rest of their group. Him being a werewolf was a much bigger issue than Callie having an extra ability, but if they could tell The Gang about both of their abnormalities together, it might have made it just a bit easier.

"I want to tell them, and I feel like I need to tell them. But I don't know if I can." Remus said, pulling his hand away from Callie to rub under his eyes. "With you, it's just something that might be weird for them to get used to, but with me-"

"With you, it's something that might be hard to understand, but they will still accept you and love you for it. You're such a special person Remus, and there is a reason that you are so close to us all. We really truly love you, and being... what you are, it won't change that." Callie finished for him.

"You say that, but I don't think it has gotten through to you that I'm a monster." Remus told her, barely audible. Before he knew it, frail arms were wrapped around him, and he couldn't help but let out a small smile at her caring touch.

"I know about werewolves, Remus. And I know you. There is nothing that could ever make me believe that you're a monster. You're just somebody with this awful... disease, let's call it. What you need is help, not to lose the people who care about you." She told him, letting go of her embrace around him and standing up. He didn't know what to say in response, so he just grabbed her hand and held it for a moment, letting himself feel lucky that in his dark like, he had friends to be the light. "Come on," she said. "Let's go."

Remus' heart was racing as he walked the corridors back to the common room with Callie. He didn't have to tell his friends about his lycantrophy tonight by any means, but Remus knew that there would be no "desirable" night to tell them, and he quite honestly didn't think he'd work up the courage at any other point. Still, the thought of exposing his dark secret to them was terrifying.

"Callie?" Remus asked, receiving a "hmm" in response. "I don't want to tell Lily or Mercia."

"Okay, how come?"

"I'm not close with them like you are. Sure I appreciate them as friends, but this isn't something that I can be okay with just telling anybody who I consider a friend. I only want it to be the guys- they're who matter most to me." he told her. "Oh! And you, of course."

Callie smiled at him. "Well okay, I appreciate you telling me, but it's not up to me. Do whatever feels right to you, Remus."

The common room had a bit more commotion than Callie and Remus would have liked coming into it. It was without a second glance around the room that they found the rest of The Gang in the sea of people, but it was certainly not ideal to have this many people around.

"Sirius! James! Peter!" Callie called, catching their attention. As they looked over at the girl, they saw one of their best friends standing next to her, and their hearts almost burst out of their chests.

"Remus!" they called, going over as fast as they could to greet him with a hug. Remus nearly lost his balance at first, but found a home in their awkward huddle and laughed. "How've you been?

There was a moment before he talked to them that he sent Callie worried eyes, but her smile reassured him of what he should do. "Can we go somewhere to talk? I need to tell you three something."

"Um, sure mate. I think our dorm is empty." James responded, heading towards the entrance of the boy's dorms.

Remus was the last in the line that followed James, and looked to Callie as she mouthed him a "good luck!" She was caught off guard when his hand grabbed around her wrist, pulling her along in the line with them. He pulled he close so he could whisper in her ear, "I need you there with me. Please."

Remus' hand found it's place in hers rather than her wrist, and Callie squeezed it reassuringly. "Of course Rem, don't have to ask me twice."

It was sufficiently awkward as the five of them sat together in the dorm. There was this overwhelming silence as Remus thought of how to tell them, and the boys were waiting eagerly. "You see, I- well, I'm not entirely sure how to put it, but..." Remus trailed off. He sputtered out half-complete sentences, and it was nearly driving the other boys mad.

"Come on Remus, just tell us." Sirius spoke, his tone was one of a joke but it was obvious that he was becoming anxious to learn why Remus had separated them from the crown in the common room.

"Guys, I need to tell you something." Remus finally spoke a full sentence.

Peter rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we gathered that. What is it?"

It was almost heartbreaking for Callie to see how worked up Remus was becoming. She could see his whole body becoming tense, with small veins showing on his arms and neck. There was obvious sweat building on his forehead, and his head were clutched in fists but still shaking. She couldn't let him being so upset like this.

Callie quickly stood up, her mouth acting before her brain did. "I'm a metamorphmagus!" The other boys stood there dumbfounded, trying to process what she just said. The one who had the most surprised look on their face was Remus, who was completely unsure of what brought this on. "I told Remus today, and I wanted to tell you guys as well, but I was too scared. Clearly it was hard for him to do it for me, so I figured I should just stop being worried and tell you myself." Remus couldn't believe what he was hearing. He made eye-contact with Callie, attempting to figure out what was going on. "Thank you for offering to help me Remus." She turned to him and told him. "I think I'll go now, goodnight."

With a walk out of the room, she left each and every boy confused and intrigued.