Nyctophobia - Sirius Black

Chapter 23

Remus stared at the empty bed for a few moments before he moved to grab his potions textbook.

"It's his fault, Moony. You know that."

"I know, Prongs, but that doesn't make it hurt any less."

"We'll get over it. If he wants to go all Slytherin on us that's his fault."

"He said he was sorry." He mumbled half-heartedly.

"but sorry doesn't really make it right, does it."

Remus would never admit it, especially not to Sirius, but he did miss sitting next to Sirius forcing him to finish his homework. He met Sirius's gaze, but his friend looked away.

Remus wasn't entirely sure they knew exactly what had happened. He did know that Sirius had told Snape, the younger, where he went for the full moons, and the elder Snape had nearly died saving her brother. Miraculously, she hadn't been turned.

Remus hadn't said a word to his friend since the incident. Sirius had come to the hospital and apologized, but Remus hadn't said a word. Sirius had either taken the silence the wrong way, or he had understood perfectly.

A small part of him was angry that he had to find out from Regulus that Sirius had been suspended for what had happened, but he couldn't really be that angry at his friend since he suspected how bad his home situation was. He had tried to confront him about it, but Sirius was unbelievably good at avoiding the topic, and his friends if they insisted.

Remus, James and Peter had been the victim of many explosions. They would have thought it was Sirius, but he was always as far as physically possible from them. Remus had tried to talk to him, wanting to know what had happened that night, and if Sirius was okay after his suspension, but Sirius was avoiding them. He was avoiding everyone.

Well, almost everyone. Remus wondered if James and Peter noticed how close he had grown to Ruby Snape.

What they would have expected was for her to put Sirius in the hospital for endangering her twin, much like she had James on numerous occasions. However, it didn't seem as if that was the case.

If they shared a class, they were partnered up, and Sirius seemed to understand the lesson more. He had frequently spotted the two walking in the hallways together. Sirius never sat at the Slytherin table with her and her friends, but that was to be expected. Remus would never tell James, but sometimes he stayed up for hours, hoping to catch Sirius when he came into the dorm to sleep so they could talk. Sirius hadn't set foot inside since the day after his suspension.

Remus opened the trunk, expecting to see his friend's untouched belonging, wondering if maybe there was a way that Sirius was getting his stuff without entering the dorm. The trunk was empty.

There was nothing inside. Remus had watched the map to see where he was staying, and found a classroom. Sirius slept there at night, and left his stuff there the rest of the day. The classroom had become his dorm. He noticed Ruby came to visit sometimes, and he guessed they were studying since the teachers had stopped calling out Sirius for not doing his homework.

He had stood outside that classroom many times, trying to get the courage to knock, but he never did. Sometimes he stood there for hours, invisibility cloak over his head and map in his hands, hoping maybe Sirius would come out and talk to him.

He curse himself for his stupidity. Sirius didn't know how much Remus missed him. Sirius didn't even know when he was outside of the dorm.

James wasn't really sure what had happened. Sirius had always been loyal. He wasn't the kind of person to slip up and blurt out secrets. Now Sirius was gone.