The Marauders' Era (A Harry Potter Fanfic)

Part 13

The hospital wing doors creaked slowly open. Remus Lupin sat upright on his bed, reading The Adventures of Wacky the Wandering Wizard behind closed curtains. His face had a couple new scratches soon to become scars, and his eyes were bloodshot, sullen and depressed.

The stranger exchanged low murmurs with madam Pomfrey and made her way over to the lines of hospital beds, her steps surprisingly soft.

Remus resumed adventuring with Wacky, the comic now showing an ugly warthog which strangely resembled an Erumpent. He was just about to flip to the next page when a soft voice called out:

"Remus?"

He froze. He knew that voice.

Cautiously he closed his book as quietly as possible, and moving incredibly slow - for he was in extreme pain - he placed Wacky on his nightstand in a sliding motion, his arm reached out further than what he had thought possible.

"Um... Remus? I know that you are awake."

Remus gave a exclaimation of surprise as the book fell with a loud "thud" on the ground, followed by its owner, having fallen off the bed in the attempt to retrieve it.

"Oof," he said, untangling himself from a mess of blankets. A hand grabbed his and pulled him upward.

"Thanks, Lily," said Remus, arranging himself back onto the bed, his eyes darting everywhere but never toward her. A moment of uncomfortable silence occurred.

"You must hate me now," said Remus. "I didn't bite you, did I?"

"No, no, you didn't hurt me at all," Lily hurriedly assured him. "You just gave me - well - quite a shock."

"Yeah." A weak laugh escaped him. "I suppose it was quite a scare, seeing the unexpected."

"Well, er..." she chuckled a little nervously. "I've known since fifth year?"

"Beg you pardon?" Remus asked, his eyes widening a little.

"You weren't that great at hiding your 'furry little problem', Remus."

"...you mean, you known it all along?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "I stumbled upon a lunar chart in the library and realized that you missed patrols on exactly the full moons. Plus, Potter kept on teasing you about your 'furry little problem' - to be honest, I thought you had a troublesome rabbit or something until I overheard him and Black."

"I told them that they should've kept their voices down," said Remus, scowling, thought his voice held just the barest trace of amusement. "Although I must say, you've certainly lived up to your reputation in that regard."

"What reputation?" Asked Lily. "Oh no - not the 'brightest witch of her age' rubbish that Professor Slughorn goes on about?" She laughed, a little embarrassed. "Well, that's just a bit of cleverness and book-smarts, isn't it?"

"Well - no, I think Sluggy's actually right for once," said Remus. "You did find out what my furry little problem was, after all. Snape couldn't figure it out for years."

"Ah - Severus - right, I remember his nose being all up in your business last year." She frowned. "Is it true that Potter saved him from dying after Black provoked him to go snooping? He wouldn't tell me what happened afterward."

"Yes, and luckily for him, too... I would never forgive myself if... something happened..."

An awkward silence ensued. Both of them seemed to be trying to form the right sentence.

Finally, Remus spoke again.

"It happened when I was a child." Remus glanced down at his bandaged arm. "My father... he'd angered a man - Fenrir Greyback was his name. So he decided that revenge would come upon my family, and broke through the window one night."

He took a slight pause. "So - I became a werewolf. No cures existed then, and they probably won't for a long time. I stayed home for many years before Dumbledore came to us."

"He arranged... accommodation, you know, the Willow - there's a tunnel underneath it that leads to the Shrieking Shrek, so that I could go somewhere safe every full moon." He chuckled. "And I was so glad to be able to live like a normal wizard that I let my friends in on this secret very quickly."

"They became Animagi to keep me company. They didn't have to..." A small smile escaped his lips. "But they wanted to. And I couldn't fault them for that. They were friends with me, and that's all I'd wanted for so long... Friends."

"I understand, Remus..." Here, Lily smiled too. "For all that I despise Potter, I have to admit that it was noble of him to do. Although I'm certain that your friends do enjoy roaming Hogwarts in animal form once in a while, from what I saw last night."

"Yes, they certainly do - almost a bit too much sometimes," said Remus, the lights in his eyes starting to dance. "I imagine it's an adventure to the three of them to explore at night."

"But Lily... you're still calling James 'Potter'? After how he save your life last night?" He grinned. "I would hope that you're on good terms now, if not just being civil toward each other. You know that he's changed, right?"

Something that felt like a slight flush was creeping its way up Lily's face. The tips of her ears were turning a bit red, though luckily hidden under her hair.

"I would hope so - I mean, for your sake, Remus - that he's changed from the prick that he used to be. But," she hastily added, "it's still too early to switch to being friends with him! I suppose we're on civil terms now, though - I mean, I would hope so - you know, since we are all mutual friends now, I guess -"

What was that? Was she stuttering over her words about James Potter, of all people? Lily thought angrily. As if!

Remus laughed, "Seems like James still has a long way to go."

"Well, I -" Lily was cut off by the sound of the clock tower ringing. Exactly eleven times, which means -

"I thought you had class at eleven o'clock, Lily?"

She scrambled for her bag. "Oh no - Potions starts now and Slughorn's going to give me an earful if I missed today's class! He's making us brew the Draught of Living Death. I've got to go - but I'll come visit you after lunch, Remus!"

Just as Lily was about to close the doors to the hospital wing, she heard Remus' amused voice call from behind the curtains:

"By the way, Lily - give poor James a chance, won't you?"