Sign of the Times

two

The very next morning, Remus woke bright and early, as many little children do. He sat up in the bed, shaking Sirius's shoulder for quite awhile before he woke up groggily. 

"Ferfucksake," Sirius muttered, rubbing his eyes. His hair was a mess and he gave a start when he saw itty bitty Remus giggling at his reaction. Then all the memories of the day before came back to him. 

Once the four boys were ready, James volunteered to go fetch Lily and see if she had any ideas on what to do. Or possibly any ideas on how to keep a five year old child alive. That would be helpful to know, the boys thought. Remus agreed it would be handy information.

"What on Earth have you boys gotten yourselves into this early in the morning? Honestly--"

She cut herself off, mouth dropping open when she saw Remus standing there, not even tall enough to reach Sirius's hips(and Sirius was pretty short).

"What happened?!" She shrieked. 

Remus giggled and ran over to hug her knees. She numbly reached down and patted Remus on the head. She looked around at James and Sirius, eyes searching for an answer. James quickly explained what they knew of the situation and asked her for insight.

By this point, Lily had taken a seat on James's bed and pulled Remus up to sit on her lap. She looked mystified. 

"We could start with figuring out how much he remembers and maybe get an idea on what the potion did to his mentality?" Lily suggested. 

"That's a great idea!" James said enthusiastically. Sirius looked less excited. He was terrified to find out what exactly it did to his boyfriend's mind. How much of his life did he remember? Would there be lasting effects?

"Remus," he asked tentatively. "What do you remember?"

Remus thought about it for a second. "I remember this many!" he said with a grin, holding up five fingers.

Sirius couldn't help but laugh. "You remember five things?" He asked, amused.

"Yep," Remus nodded, counting off his fingers. "I remember Siwius, James, Lily, Pete, aaaaaaaaand...Dumbledore!"

They all laughed then. Though Sirius was already a little concerned. Even from the night before, Remus seemed much more childish then he was previously. Perhaps the five year old mentality was really setting in, perhaps pushing the Remus they all knew to the back and perhaps some of his memories too.

"Well, should we head down to the Great Hall for breakfast?" Peter suggested, mind always on food.

"Wait, wait, wait," James said, as something seemed to occur to him. "Remus, are you potty trained?"

Remus rolled his eyes with a giggle, "Duhhhhhh," he said. "My mummy taught me when I was this many!" He said, holding up three fingers before counting them and reconsidering, holding up two fingers instead.

James laughed. "Alright, just checking."

"Since we're on the topic of finger ages, how old are you Remus?" Lily asked him. 

He had to think harder about this one and Sirius found himself holding his breath.

"I'm 'posed to be seventeen," He said, then giggled. "But now I'm five."

"Yeah, now your five," Lily said, trying to laugh but failing. 

After a lull in the conversation, Peter started bouncing on his heels. "Well? I'm hungry."

James sighed and nodded and the five of them headed down to the Great Hall, Remus reaching up to hold Lily's hand so he wouldn't get lost.

When they got into the Great Hall, they took their usual spots at the table, Remus and Sirius on one side and Peter, James, and Lily across from them. Sirius sat down and watched fondly as Remus crawled up on the bench.