Four To The End (prev Shifting Lines) - Book One (Marauder Era)

Chapter Nine - Chocolate Is A Great Cure

Remus smacked his head when he woke up, forgetting he was under his bed. He rubbed the sore spot and then lay back down, blinking angrily at the bottom of his bed. Then, remembering everything, he lifted his shirt and peeled back the bloodied bandage to see a pink scar on his midriff. Good. He rolled over to exit his nest then froze when he saw something near his head. A distinctly shaped box... a chocolate frog. Who put that there? He pulled the box close and examined it all over for any indication but it as just a regular chocolate frog. Nothing special. Did someone drop it? He stuck it in his pocket as he got out from under his bed and then went to the bathroom so he could throw the bandage away there and wash off the dried blood.

When he returned to the dorm he put the chocolate frog on the little table near the middle of the room, by the heater. It was still warm out so the heater wasn't on yet, so he felt the chocolate safe enough. Hopefully whoever dropped it would find it before someone else did.

*

Despite it being suppertime, Remus stayed in the dorm. He felt rather hungry and knew it would help ease up some of his weakness however he was worried about being assaulted if he went into the Great Hall. The image of Potter and Black rushing to him in the common room filled his head. So he ate the last of his candy (that was supposed to last the entire month) and redid his History essay. Then he heard voices out in the hall and he scrambled back under the bed, slipping completely underneath just as the door opened.

Three sets of shoes. In addition to Potter's expensive trainers and Black's shiny loafers there was a scuffed pair of trainers Remus realized belonged to Pettigrew.

"My chocolate frog!" Pettigrew said, going over to the table.

"Told you he wouldn't want it," Potter said.

"Chocolate always makes me feel better when I'm sick," Pettigrew complained.

"I've seen the way you eat candy, it's probably how you get sick in the first place!" Potter teased.

"If he's come out from under the bed, why did he miss dinner?" Black asked and then Remus cried out, pushing backwards as Black knelt by his bed and looked underneath. "Oh, you're still there."

"You scared him!" Potter said then knelt down to look too. Remus pushed back even more, blushing lightly. "You feeling better?" Potter asked. "You're still really white."

Now Pettigrew knelt and looked. "Why didn't you want the chocolate frog?" he asked, clutching the box in one chubby hand.

"Is that... blood?" Black's eyes landed on Remus's shirt, at the stain that he had gotten from the gash on his side.

"No," Remus said quickly, pulling the blanket up to hide his middle. Why did I forget to change my shirt? He felt very stupid... of course he hadn't really expected anyone to see him for a while. They saw me under here earlier... He wondered what they thought, him hiding out like this. It wasn't something he thought regular people did but it was so much better, made him feel protected.

"You still look pretty sick," Black said, eyes returning to Remus's face. "What happened? What did you get?"

"I thought healers could fix almost anything," Potter mused.

"D--d--doesn't m--matter," Remus mumbled.

"Is it your stomach? Cause if it's not you can still have my chocolate frog." Pettigrew put the box on the floor and pushed it under the bed.

He began to panic, all three boys blocking one side of his bed, looking at him, seeing how awful he looked, sort of seeing the blood. I should have stayed in the hospital wing...! His breathing got a little funny which caused Black and Potter to both frown.