At Face Value - Sirius Black x OC

Chapter 4

After only a day of classes, and a day of staying in her room in pain, Janus finally went to the Hospital Wing. 

She didn't tell anyone but Professor Slughorn about her sickness. He had been the one to insist she see Madam Pomfrey. Surely Bacchus had heard through him that Janus was sick, but he didn't visit her. Chester and Plutus had come three days into her stay in the hospital wing, bearing chocolate frogs and a letter signed by even the family back home. Bacchus's signature was among the rest, but it was a cheap forgery. Janus said nothing of it to her brothers. 

Peter came after four days, ushering himself from dinner to bring her a slice of pie.

"Professor Slughorn is in a foul mood without you there," He had said. "He hasn't started assigning extra homework, and I think it's only because he knows you'll have to do it as well. But he has been snapping at Sirius more often."

"I'm sorry Peter," She said, but hadn't meant it. "Tell him I'm sorry, would you?"

His eyes brightened. "Oh I will. Sirius will appreciate it."

She didn't believe him but she didn't say anything.

When Peter left Madam Pomfrey took the pie away. Janus wasn't allowed to eat anything beyond the mushy bottles of food she was given daily. Madam Pomfrey was suspicious that the lead was coming from the food and water Janus was eating, so she was on a strict diet. No other students got sick, so her theory quickly died out. 

Chester and Plutus visited each at least once a week, but they were always together when they did. Letters from home kept coming, each took longer to arrive than the last, and the presents and chocolates quickly died out. 

Peter was the only one who didn't give up on her. He was always persistent in bringing her small gifts and stories he always told with a smile. 

"James has got the biggest crush on this girl Lily. She seems nice enough."

"Slughorn postponed the test again. Sirius and James looked like they were going to throw a party!"

"Remus aced another test. Sirius did too. You didn't hear it from me but I think..."

Janus slowly stopped listening. She set her friendly face on and Peter didn't mind that she looked blankly into the distant. Each story he told was about one of his newfound friends. Soon enough every time she heard any of their names she blocked out his voice. His visits were cut shorter and shorter as her tolerance dwindled. 

"I'm tired, Peter. I'll talk to you again next week okay?" 

He always left with a smile and an understanding nod. She hardly did sleep after he left, even when she felt tired. 

~

After Janus had been in the hospital wing for a month, Peter visited again but he was not alone. Three other boys accompanied him and she was all too familiar with their faces. 

"Hello Peter, what're you doing here?" She asked politely, ignoring the other boys as best she could. "You don't usually come on Tuesdays."

Peter turned a slight shade of red, but it wasn't abnormal for him to always be slightly embarrassed. "Well Remus and James can't come on Thursdays, so I thought I'd come earlier so they could meet you."

"We've met before," She said, but she shook Remus's hand anyway. James shook her hand as well, but only because Remus did. Sirius shook her hand, his gaze into her eyes strong and his hand stayed a second too long. It reminded her of Bach. 

She shook off the thought and turned back to her visitors. She had her default face on. Usually she prepared her friendly face for Peter, but she thought it better to keep her face where it was for the other three. If Peter noticed he didn't show it. Remus noticed. Just enough that there was a curiosity in his eye as he inspected her face. He quickly shied away when he saw he'd been caught. 

"Nice to see you again," She said after an awkward silence.

"You as well," Remus said. "Are you feeling better?"

"Not much," She said with a shrug. "The lack of school work helps though." She laughed despite the pain it caused in her stomach. 

Sirius rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Of course it does."

Remus turned red with shame. James looked all too amused, and Peter was oblivious. 

Janus switched to her third face, the most aggressive of them. Sirius's eyes bulged out of their sockets for a moment as he watched her face suddenly turned angry. 

Lead poisoning had a tendency to make one irritable, and Janus didn't care that she was throwing around her faces carelessly. Sirius would only remember it as a bad dream, or a trick of the light. 

"Do you have something you want to say Sirius?"

"N-," He shrunk back for a moment, afraid, but his own cockiness got the better of himself. "Well actually yes I do."

"Sirius," Remus muttered under his breath as a warning, but he did nothing more than put his hand over his eyes and rub his temples. 

"Isn't it a bit convenient that as soon as you get sick you don't have to do any homework or take any tests?"

Janus was suddenly glad Madam Pomfrey wasn't in earshot to stop them. 

"Oh so I've been secretly eating lead to try and get myself sick? Or maybe I've just been licking the walls. This castle is so old there's probably lead in the grimy old paint here. "

Sirius stayed quiet.

She stood up from her bed, and Peter's face flushed white. She ignored the pain in her legs and the tired feeling in her arms. "Let me just get this straight," She cleared her throat.

He rolled his eyes. "I get it I get it you're a flawless student who would never do anything bad."

"I'd like to see you try keeping up that attitude when you're throwing up, can't sleep but you're constantly tired, you're always in pain, and then some brat comes up in your space uninvited and starts complaining."

Sirius huffed and shut up. James looked angry, Remus was exasperated and Peter was just confused. He looked back and forth between Janus and Sirius. 

She sat back down and sighed, holding her head. She threw up in the bucket next to her bed and wiped her mouth with a rag on the table beside her. She turned red with shame. 

"My apologies," She said, looking down at the ground and still holding her head. "Lead poisoning tends to make you irritable as well."

She took a swig of water from a half full glass beside her. She threw that up as well.

Sirius looked slightly ashamed as well, but unlike Janus he kept his head down and hid it. She was too tired to hide it. She had switched back to her default face without even realizing. Controlling her faces was a lot harder when she was sick. It was usually an instinct, something simple and permanent until she willed it to change. 

"Well, then why are you the only one sick?" Sirius asked.

She hated the arrogance in his voice but couldn't deny that he was right. "I- I'm not sure."

"Well, the logical conclusion is that someone is targeting you," Remus said

Janus was too busy dry heaving to respond immediately. Never before had she thrown up so much, her symptoms were getting worse.

"Hey, you don't look so good," James said. Remus elbowed him harshly in the ribs.

She had just enough energy to laugh slightly. "Hey, he's just saying what you're all thinking."

Her stomach flipped again and she held back the urge to retch. She felt like her brain was materializing into a light air.

"Are you alright?" Peter asked.

"Yes, thank you." She said and she could tell he didn't believe her. 

"I'm going to go get Madam Pomfrey," Remus said quietly before rushing off to the nurse's office, where she hopefully was. 

James looked shocked and all too unaware, similarly to Peter. She couldn't read Sirius's face. There were too many emotions there at once and before she could decipher any of them she blacked out.