a\n: for the 'Terminally Ill' Challenge, on the HPFC.
The grandfather clock chimed every hour on the dot. It was now a new day...Midnight.
He had to tell him.
Sirius waited awhile for Remus to come downstairs, which gave him time to gather what he would say in the conversation, but it also made him fill with more anxiety. When his friend finally did enter the room, he knew it was all or nothing.
"Remus?" Sirius called, as his dear friend stumbled down the stairs with an empty mug that had held hot chocolate hours before.
"Yes, Sirius?" He answered back before yawning and letting his cup sink into the hot, soapy water in the sink.
"Could you take a seat, please?"
Though tired, Remus grinned.
"You're never so formal...what sort of a prank is this, eh?"
"No prank, Remus. Chap? This is serious."
Remus straightened in his seat, fixed his sleep-shirt, and stared over at his best-friend.
"Sirius, what's going on?"
"Remus..when I was in my animagus form last month...I went to the lake behind here...that old bit of land and water down the hill...I had my foot wrapped up from a cut I received down there...It swelled pretty bad..and it was a right nasty sight when I took the band-aid off," he took in a deep, calming breath. Remus was on edge.
Why was his best-friend acting so peculiar?
"I went to the doctor to get it checked, Remus..and there was a parasite in that water..a lake worm...that feeds off of flesh. If it get inside you, it feeds off your vital organs. The parasite got in my cut, since it was so infected...and it went to my brain." He paused here. Finally, it was off his chest. The encumbrance of it was lifted from him. His best-friend sat in a shocked sort of silence. There was no moving, no sound, no blinking. Remus' face had paled, and his eyes were slowly hazing over with tears that ought to not be shed if he was to compose himself for his friend's sake.
"Is there any help for it?"
"No, Remus," he stated as gently as possible. "There's nothing that can be done."
"You're my best mate, Sirius. You've known everything about me since I was eleven."
"And you, me, Remus. You know me. I wish I didn't have to tell you. I really do...but I had to...and you're the only one that has to know."
Remus nodded and they sat there, both in silence, as the clock chimed 1 A.M.
Sirius was curious as to which hour chiming would be the last he'd ever hear.
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