Remus woke up slowly, the black behind his eyelids fading to a grey blur. It seemed brighter than was usual on mornings like this one. He lay for a moment with his eyes shut, and became aware of the sound of voices in the next room. It meant something important, that there were people, but he couldn't think what. His head felt full of cotton. He tried to think back, remembered vaguely anger and frustration, prey stolen from him. Human…he'd smelled human, much stronger than the usual taunting scent that always lingered from his entrance to the shack. A brief jolt of panic shot through him, but he tamped it down – he had to think first, figure out what had happened. He was gradually becoming aware of the pain, soreness everywhere, a brilliant sharpness in his arm and a stinging on his forehead. An interesting complement to his growing headache.
Headaches meant escape attempts, running at the walls. The cut on his forehead would be from the same. The arm…gnawing maybe. It had happened before. His mouth was full of a familiar metallic taste, which supported that hypothesis. Unless…but he couldn't face that possibility. He remembered the wolf's frustration so strongly, so the person must have gotten away, they must have. But what if he'd bitten them first, what if they knew who he was, and if they'd found him how could they not. Oh god what if it was Sirius or James, not transformed for some reason and what if I bit them what if I've killed Sirius, he's never understood how dangerous the wolf is… Panicking again. Stop, finish evaluating. Then maybe you can panic.
There was something that was different. What was the thing that was different? Voices, lights are too bright – he wasn't in the Shack. Hospital wing? It must be the hospital wing. Which meant he hadn't woken up right away, so he must be rather badly injured.
Eyes. Could he open his eyes? His eyelids felt crusted over, but he managed to get through. He squinted up at the ceiling of, yes, the hospital wing. A moment later a voice from next to him sent pain lancing through his head.
"Remus! Remus, you're awake, fucking god, I'm sorry Remus." Sirius practically shouted.
Remus tried to respond, "Too loud", but all that came out was a croak. He screwed up his eyes, hoping that would get the message across.
Sirius was still going. "…that git, I should have known he'd be such an idiot, I wish you had bit him, fucking bastard, I'll…"
"Right, I let you stay until he woke up, now get out so I can treat my patient", Madame Pomfrey's sharp voice cut in.
Sirius' voice got even louder in protest, but he inevitably lost the battle. A moment later, Remus felt a hand on the top of his head.
"Glad to see you awake, dear" said Madame Pomfrey. "You had me worried for a while there. You've lost a lot of blood. I'm going to lift your head up now and get you some water, alright?"
The pounding in his head increased again as he moved, but after the water his throat felt a thousand times better. "What happened?" he managed to rasp out.
"Your injuries are worse than usual. Your left arm's been torn up pretty badly, but I'll have it fixed up soon."
"Person. Remember…person…"
Madame Pomfrey paused, and with a slight catch in her voice said, "You didn't hurt anyone. Don't worry about the rest until you're more recovered. I'm going to give you a Blood-Replenishing potion now, and then a sleeping draught so I can fix up that arm."
Relief flooded through Remus at the news that no one else was hurt. But clearly something bad had happened – had he been exposed? He knew from long experience that he would get nothing else out of Madame Pomfrey, so he obediently took his potions and faded back into blackness.