The Last Marauder Standing || Sirius Black

16-The New Normal

Sirius, Remus, and I sat in the great hall after classes one day doing homework together. Sirius needed some help with potions again so we had a mini tutoring session as well. Now we were just working on our own individual assignments. However, Sirius looked quite over the whole thing, staring at the empty parchment paper before him that was meant to be a full essay by tomorrow. Sirius huffed and pulled out his wand.

"Accio 4 foot charms essay, finished would be good!" He nodded, waiting for a moment so the spell could work, but of course, nothing happened.

" I don't think that's how it works." I chuckled before returning to my own essay which was almost finished. Remus shook his head at us, a smile on his face.

"I just don't understand why we need school. If you wanna be a dog, woof, you know?" Sirius shook his head. Remus started laughing a bit and I was just utterly confused.

"That's easy for you to say, Pads" Remus joked as he began putting away his books. Sirius just shrugged and I decided not to question that entire exchange. I'm afraid I'll never understand these boy's inside jokes.

"School is important Sirius, especially if you want to be an auror" I gave him a pointed look.

"I'm rich and handsome, what else do I need?" He huffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Some brain cells would be nice" I rolled my eyes. Remus laughed at us once more before getting up from his seat.

"Well, as fun as this was, I'm afraid I have to get going" He informed us as he slowly slung his bag over his shoulder. I could tell he seemed really worn down today.

"Okay, are you feeling alright Remus?" I asked, genuinely concerned. As I've begun hanging out with the boys more often I've started noticing how often Remus seems to get sick and how he always just seems weak or tired.

"Oh I'm alright, just didn't get a lot of sleep last night" He sighed. "Maybe it's because I can't believe it's almost February already. This year is going by so fast" He nodded, making eye contact with Sirius quickly before averting his eyes down to the floor. "Anyways, I should get going now. See you later" He nodded before walking away. Once he left the great hall I turned to Sirius.

"Well that was a little odd, don't you think?" I asked him and he simply shrugged, suddenly finding his essay much more interesting than my question.

"I dunno, seems pretty normal to me. Remus has a lot of trouble sleeping. Something the three of us seem to have in common if I remember correctly" He looked at me from the corner of his eye.

"I suppose..." I trailed off, looking back down at my essay, deep in thought. The boys and Remus always act so strangely when it comes to Remus being ill or visiting his ill grandmother. The scars on his body have me fearing the worst, but I know if anything was seriously wrong the other boys would do something about it. They wouldn't just let someone hurt Remus like that. He's just in the hospital wing at least once a month and it's always after he visits with his grandmother who can't seem to get better. I don't even know what illness she has. I hope it's not the stress of the situation that's making him feel this way... "So, how are the other boys doing lately?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"You'd know as well as me, we're all always together" He joked as he scribbled down a few more words, probably making things up as he goes.

"Well, I'm sure they don't tell me nearly half as much as they tell you" I shook my head. "You guys just keep acting weird, and I want to know what's up"

"Your 'weird' is our 'normal'" Sirius informed me. "There truly is nothing to tell"

"Oh c'mon! Peter can't even say three words to me without withdrawing back into his shell!" I exclaimed.