Falling // Wolfstar

Eleven

"Is he alive?"

"Don't be daft. Of course he's alive."

"Do you think he can hear us?"

"I heard when you're unconscious sometimes you can still hear everything."

"Hey did you guys eat lunch yet? I'm starving."

"No I didn't."

"I had half a granola bar."

A chorus of protests arise followed by clanging of glass bottles and Madame Pomfrey's voice. "Shoo!" she ushers. "Give the boy some space to breathe!"

"So he is alive!"

"Prongs shut up."

Open your eyes, Remus tells himself.

The simple act is much harder than it seems. His eyelids are heavy, like the feeling of weights holding them down. Speaking is twice as hard. His mouth is dry and voice lost. With every bit of muscle he can find, he opens his eyes.

Bright white lights sear into his pupils causing him to shut them immediately. His head throbs achingly like a ton of bricks are repeatedly falling on him.

Remus peeks an eye open much slower, adjusting to the view. All the blurry images slowly melt into one picture. He knows this ceiling like the back of his hand after having spent many nights here. The hospital wing. He shifts his head to see Madame Pomfrey stirring together a concoction of horrifying colored liquids. Maybe if he closed his eyes she wouldn't make him drink it. He swallows the lump in his throat, grimacing at the thought. To his other side, three boys sit on the bed huddled together.

James, Peter, and...Sirius Black?

Remus blinks rapidly to make sure it isn't a figment of his imagination. Sirius Black is in fact sitting with his mates. Remus looks back to James who sits on the far left. Something about him is different. He looks older maybe? His hair has grown out a bit, and he has more muscles than the last time Remus saw him. Squinting, he can just barely make out the shiny silver badge pinned to James' robes that reads: Head Boy.

James is Head Boy? How is that even possible?

Peter sits in the middle, squished by both boys trying to fight for the Bertie Bott's box in his hands. His face has matured; the chubby cheeks he used to have are more chiseled, and - is that a hickey on his neck? Remus is shocked by the very faint red mark just above his shoulder. As far as he was concerned, Peter has never even held hands with a girl!

"You're awake!" Madame Pomfrey announces with glee, ushering him to sit up slowly. "Drink." She shoves a cup into his hand and forces his head back to drink. Remus breaks into a fit of coughs, nearly spitting it back up. "Good boy."

The boys are up on their feet, hovering dangerously close over him.

"Moony we've been so worried about you!" James says, wrapping his arms around him. "When we found you passed out - bloody hell! Pete almost fainted too."

Remus can only listen as they speak over one another about what happened. Something about fainting and quidditch. The words jumble together, going in one ear and straight out the other. Through it all, he can't help but find himself looking at Sirius. The mysterious boy he's never spoken to before is now standing beside his bed like they've known each other for years.

"Can - can I talk to you James?" Remus asks, his voice barely loud enough to break through the commotion. James turns to Peter and Sirius; they share a look, one which Remus doesn't quite understand.