Remus Lupin One-Shots
This one-shot takes place in the Marauders 5th year (January), which makes Remus 15, Sirius 16, James 15 and Peter 15.
WARNING blood, injury, language and general WHUMP! No SLASH, but WolfStar if you squint.
"The snow settled!" James hollered leaping over onto Peter's bed, who squeaked in protest. "Shut up James!" Remus grumbled.
"Yeah James, it his time of the month." Sirius pouted lowering down to Remus' eye level, kneeling on the floor, "poor 'ickle Moony."
"Leave him." Peter glanced sympathetically over to his friend, "do you want anything for breakfast Remus?"
"Breakfast?" Remus murmured sitting up and blinking slowly.
"Yeah, it's like half ten mate, we are lucky its a Sunday, we would have missed it otherwise." James scoffed and Remus shot up. "What! I'm meeting Lily... we are going to... um... transfiguration, our mock OWL."
"Slow down Rem, you can meet her later." James leapt up, as Remus teetered on the spot. "Now, we are going to get you ready, for tonight." Remus groaned to himself, suppressing a growl that was vibrating in his throat. He turned to face his bed and started throwing books into his satchel. "Just because Lily actually wants to see me and not you."
James feigned hurt and place his hand on the bag, denying Remus' large book entrance, "James, please"
"Remuuuussss." James whined, getting on to the bed.
"Moonyyyy." Sirius said clasping his friends ankles and dragging him away, Remus wriggled onto his back and looked up at Sirius with an angry scowl, batting him away. "Watch out gents, wild man Moony's fighting back!" Sirius hollered clasping Remus' shoulders and getting on his knees over his friend.
"Sirius please." Remus huffed, unable to move.
"You're sweating, do you have a fever Remus?" Sirius' brows furrowed in worry.
"No!" Remus grunted trying to break free, "I'm just being beaten up."
"Did you stay in the seats last night? In that storm? You did, didn't you? " Sirius huffed. "Can you... well, will you..."
"He's trying to say, get off him you cougar!" James laughed, "but seriously Remus, how do you feel?"
"I'm fine." Remus muttered scrambling to his knee's dragging his bag off his bed. He pulled himself up and stumbled to the door frame. "See you all later, you are coming to that revision class?"
"What class?" James froze.
"Defence?" Peter suggested, clawing at a fading memory of it.
"Yes, defence! Holy shit you guys, you are all going to fail!" Remus sighed to himself making his way out of the room. "Remus! Don't ignore us!" James shouted. There wasn't an answer. "Alright mummy Potter." smirked Sirius. Suddenly, a loud stumbling noise echoed up from the stairwell, joined by a canine shout. James and Sirius meet eyes for a second and soon all three boys were trying to squeeze through the doorway. "Remus! Moony?" Sirius shouted, panic resounding clear in his voice.
"I'm fine. See you later." The faint voice of Remus made its way back up the stairs.
"I told you we should have checked on him."
James and Sirius were racing; it was heated, yet playful and there vision was slowly fading as the snow fall picked up. Sirius removed one hand from his broom and blew onto it, "I regret not wearing gloves." Sirius shouted over the wind and snow.
"I told you so!" James laughed, "Hey are Remus and Peter still in the bleachers?"
"If they are, they are mad!" Sirius slowed beside James.
"We should check." James reasoned.
"They are not that stupid, at least Remus has the sense, even if Peter doesn't." James laughed out loud, shaking his head slowly, "I'll tell Peter know you said that."
"Ahh, what would he do?" Sirius shrugged, "Squeak me to death?"
"That makes no sense." James yelled as the wind picked up again, "Another lap? And this time, I'm actually going to try."
"Alright four eyes, your on!" And with that the boys were off. However, down on the seats Remus had not intention of moving, he had, somehow, fallen into a 'pre full-moon' sleep and was, in all intensive purpose, dead to the world. His stack of books thankfully halted his notes pages bid to escape with the winds, however his scarf had lost that battle ages ago and was now waving, flag-like, caught on a nearby post. Suddenly a stray piece of paper flew into Remus face and he shot up, shivering at the sudden wave of cold that washed over him, 'he'd fallen asleep'. Quickly gathering his things, Remus retrieved his scarf and hurried onto the pitch, "James? Sirius?"
"Remus? Are you still out hear?" James scolded pulled up to his rear.
"N...no, I think I..." Remus stumbled, rubbing his head.
"Thought as much, I knew you wouldn't be stupid enough to try and study in a snow storm." James hopped off his broom and Sirius appeared from the snow flurries. "We are coming in now, right Sirius?"
"Yeah, right." Sirius huffed blowing into his hands, "gloves, remind me!"
"Yeah, gloves." Remus muttered to himself following the boys in and trying desperately to warn his trembling fingers.
"Are we going to this defence study session?" Peter asked.
"Um, yeah, I suppose we should." James nodded slowly finishing off his pumpkin juice and pushing his plate away, "Has anyone seen Remus?"
"No," Sirius shook his head, "Unless he had lunch earlier, he didn't have breakfast this morning."
"Hmm, maybe." James looked around once me.
"Don't panic, he's with Lily, she'll look after him." Sirius reassured.
"James!" James whipped his head round to see Lilly rushing toward the Gryffindor table, her face was red, eyes large with worry, "thank God!"
"Lily, what's the matter?" James asked swinging himself off his bench and onto his feet.
"It's Remus, isn't it?" Peter interjected, he had always been good at reading others emotions, he knew when something was going to happen, Sirius had always claimed Divination was the only class he would pass, but secretly Peter wished it was the only one he didn't. Who would hang out with a psychic weirdo?
Lily nodded slowly, "he's in the hospital wing." The four Gryffindors wasted no time and soon, even Peter was running up to the hospital wing, no conversation past between them, only concerned glances and loud gulps.
Madam Pomfrey had been awaiting the boys, who, she knew would soon 'grace her wing' as they so pleasantly put it. When they did, she was ready, "Yes he will be fine, no you cannot see him, he needs to rest!" she leaned closer, "before tonight."
"What's wrong with him?" Sirius asked quickly.
"He has a fever, his blood sugar was low, I'm guessing he hasn't eaten today and was showing mild signs of hypothermia." She said bluntly, "now, why could that be?"
"I told you." James turned to Sirius and huffed, running his hand through his hair.
"Care to elaborate Mr Potter?"
"We were out on the quidditch pitch last night, Remus was revising, we assume he went in once it started snowing." Sirius explain slowly, his voice cracking with guilt.
"You assumed!" Lily snapped, "Well nice work boys. You didn't have to deal with a feinting incident in the library!"
"We don't think he ate today either." Peter added.
"No, I don't think he did." Lily confirmed.
"Remus are you ok?" Lily asked curiously, watching Remus rub his red elbow.
"Yeah, I slipped, at the bottom of the dorm stairs." Remus flushed red and smiled weakly. Lily tutted playfully and returned to her book. The two studied in almost silence, talking only to ask questions or request help; it was friendly, they just enjoyed the company of each other. This continued for a few hours, "You going to lunch?" Lily piped up glancing at the clock - half one.
"Um, yeah, soon." Remus muttered plainly, dipping his quill once more.
"I had a big breakfast, I might eat later, but Remus, you know what today is, maybe you should..." Lily trailed off, not wanting to sound pushy.
"Yeah, big breakfast, me too." Remus snapped, covering his mouth after another dry cough. His headache was only getting worse, but Remus told himself that OWLs mattered more, he simply ignored the cold sweats and tremors that shook his body.
"Fair enough," Lily sighed, not wanting to argue. "Aw crap," she huffed, "my quill snapped!"
"It's ok, I have a spare." Remus bent down from his chair, quickly, to his bag, but the dizzying momentum carried him forward and he stumbled off the chair, grabbing the nearby bookshelf. "Remus, are you ok?" Lily repeated, sounding like a broken record. She quickly moved in front of him, trying to get his attention. Remus tried to meet her stare through glazed vision, "I think I might..." Was all he managed before he collapsed in a heap at the foot of the bookshelf. "Help!" Lily shouted urgently, squatting beside Remus, "Remus, Rem?" she muttered, slightly panicked, as she shook his shoulders. A sixth year, who Lily knew to be a Hufflepuff prefect appeared, took one look at the two and stammered "I'll get Madam Pomfrey."
"Mr Lupin? Remus?"
Remus was sure he heard a voice, he cracked an eyelid open and shuddered when he realised that the aching all over, pounding headache and shakes meant he was not only awake, but nearing the full moon. "Professor McGonagall?" He croaked, trying to push himself up. "He's not strong enough Poppy, is there nothing else you can give him?"
"Nothing that will take effect now." Madam Pomfrey sighed, "Remus, sweetie, it's getting late, Professor McGonagall and I are going to take you down to the shack, ok?" Remus barely replied and the two women shot each other concerned glances. With a small sigh Poppy Pomfrey lifted the too light boy and opened the curtain around his bed, "he's lighter... again." she commented, mostly to herself.
"He should be growing, gaining weight." Minerva McGonagall added with a sigh, "too much stress, pain and not enough... well of anything else. I should have warned Albus."
"Some-one should prepare his friends, for... well, the worst." Poppy almost whispered. "I will." Minerva said slowly.
When Remus came to, he just wanted to cry, he knew exactly where he was, his muscles screamed with exertion and his leg felt hot with blood. 'Have I missed my transformation?' He thought to himself, he managed to drag himself onto his elbows and his suspicions where confirmed, he was naked and a large gash was leaking blood over his calf. On a more positive note he had missed a transformation, well not be conscious at least. With muscles on fire Remus managed to sit up, tears pricked his vision, yet he chocked back a sob. Somehow the wolf had managed to scale the stairs, he'd have to get down to get his clothes before the teachers arrived for him.
With a grunt and a sob Remus pulled himself up using the nearby window sill for support, each limb howled with protest and as he made his way to the stairs Remus' world tilted dangerously. His lungs heaved with effort and he let out harsh coughs with each step. Reaching the top of the stairwell was an achievement in itself for Remus, he may have left a trail of deep crimson blood and made enough noise to wake the dead, but he was there. Now he had to get down and given his track record with stairs that weekend, it couldn't go well for Remus.
Professor McGonagall and Poppy Pomfrey walked in silence, they had already argued and threatened expulsion to a persistent bunch of Gryffindors that morning and were, frankly, too nervous to even mention Remus to each other. Poppy cracked open the shack's hatch, it was eerily silent and a layer of dust hung in the still air, "Remus?"
"Poppy..." Minerva muttered, almost silently. There was a heartbeat then both women were rushing to the naked, still body at the foot of the stairs. Remus, was silent, spare the shivers that violently wracked his body, if it weren't for them anyone would have assumed the pale, aurban haired boy dead. Blood matted his curls and rolled over his nose from a cut on his head, presented by a large bump; his leg spilled the same substance over the floorboards, dark blue and black bruising littered his ribcage, where he had clearly fallen and his shoulder, also black with bruise was clearly out of place. Neither of the women spoke, Poppy stopped the bleeding and inspected the boys shoulder, with a sympathetic sigh he shook her head and prepared to levitate the boy, until a whimper stopped her. "Remus?"
"Ma... Pom..." Remus tried before a cough wracked his frame.
"Remus, my boy, thank goodness. Now I'm going to levitate you back to the hospital wing, ok?" Remus tried to nod, but Minerva stopped him, placing a hand behind his head and shushing him gently, Remus could only squeak a small whimper, "...hurt..." Minerva fought the tears threatening to spill. "I know."
With a reassuring sigh Poppy cast Wingardium Leviosa, but, along with it came a heart wrenching yelp from the boy it was enchanting. "I'm sorry."
"I'm ok..." Remus gasped tears spilling down his cheek, mixing with blood and sweat. And with that Remus closed his eyes, just hoping he would open them again.
:'( I decided to end it there simply because many stories don't cover Poppy Pomfrey, Minerva and Remus, without the other Marauders. If you want I will carry this on, maybe with an ending where the boys sneak down to find Remus before the teachers?
Let me know!
Thank you :)