James snuck out of the Gryffindor Tower again after everyone was asleep, hoping to see Lily doing better than the night before. He felt terrible for making her sicker than she needed to be. Hopefully, he could be stealthier this time. It was a real close call yesterday, that woman had instincts way better than he would have thought. The only thing saving him was her general state of health that prevented her from investigating further. The Quidditch Captain could just imagine her chewing him out if she found out about the stalkery, not to mention the Cloak of Invisibility.
He was also worrying about Remus coming down with a lurgy, but that could wait until the next day when they would ultimately find out if all their fussing was for nothing or not. He had another one close to his heart to feel concerned about right now.
Potter edged into the Hospital Wing as quietly as he could. Lily was sleeping peacefully, her dark red hair sprawled out around her on the pillow. She definitely looked better. Kind of endearing too with her slightly red nose and light snore. She still couldn't quite breathe through her congestion, but she didn't seem that feverish anymore.
Feeling adequately calmed about her health, James bent down to plant a kiss on the beautiful girl's hair before taking his leave. What he was not prepared for was Lily stirring from her sleep, her eyes flying wide open as soon as she realised that something was amiss. He quickly pulled back away from her, but the damage was already done. So much for stealth.
It took every ounce of self-control of the redhead not to scream at the sensation of something invisible brushing against her.
"Whoever you are. Explanation. Now. Before I hex you into tomorrow," she whispered dangerously, not wanting to strain her voice which was still a bit hoarse, grabbing her wand from the nightstand.
"Just came to see how you were. Sorry for waking you," the boy smiled guiltily as he pulled his hood back.
"And you couldn't do that during visiting hours without scaring the living daylight out me? And what's up with that?" Lily's voice was dripping with sarcasm as she pointed to his seemingly missing body.
"It's an… invisibility cloak," he admitted reluctantly, still only a disembodied head floating in mid-air. It was a disconcerting sight.
"I gathered that much," she huffed, rubbing her nose which started to itch again irritatingly, it had been going on and off all day until she finally fell asleep. Then after a second, something else occurred to her making her glare at Potter even more. "You were… hh… in here yester…hih… h'kshsh… yesterday too when I woke up, weren't you?" she finished before blowing her nose.
"Uhm… Maybe?" James scratched the back of his head, not wanting to confess to it outright.
The redhead scrambled out of bed to swat at him in anger. "You had me thinking I was going bonkers, you prat!"
She only made it two steps before a wave of dizziness washed over her. She reached to catch herself on the next cot, but an invisible force scooped her up and returned her to her bed.
"Bloody hell, Evans. Are you off your trolley? You're still sick, don't strain yourself," the Quidditch Captain chided, finally pulling the cloak entirely off and setting it beside himself as he sat down at the end of Lily's bed.
"Says the cheeky bastard sneaking in to watch ill girls sleep," the girl rolled her eyes resentfully.
"Touché. Although, for your information, I wouldn't be doing this for just any girl," James winked at her playfully.
"I feel so flattered, not to mention creeped out. Tell me, exactly why shouldn't I call Madam Pomfrey out right this second?" Evans crossed her arms, her wand still in hand, now pointed at Potter.
"Because I would just put my cloak back on and disappear into the night and no one would ever believe you, blaming it on your fever?" he shrugged, trying very hard not smirk at her, his lips twitching.
"Merlin, you are such a twat. And here I was thinking that it was so nice of you to leave me a get well note," the redhead hissed, the air catching in her throat and making cough again.
"You thought it was nice?" James mellowed instantly, looking up at her in dreamy hopefulness.
"Not anymore," Lily took the glass from her bedside table, sipping on the water while glaring flatly at the Marauder.
"Anyway… I just wanted to make sure I hadn't done any lasting damage to your health. I'll be leaving now," Potter got back up, deflated by the hostility, running a hand nervously through his hair.
"Good," she huffed, deliberately not looking at him.
"Fine. I really am going."
"Fantastic!"
Without another word James pulled his cloak back on himself, disappearing from sight. A few moments later the door of the infirmary opened to a slither then closed back again. Lily slumped back into her pillows with a great sigh, staring at the ceiling for a while. Sleep didn't come so easily that night, her mind going through all the impossible scenarios of the last five years that suddenly got explained by a freaking invisibility cloak.
As soon as Remus woke up in the morning, he knew he was thoroughly screwed. His head felt like it was stuffed with cotton wool, his throat felt raw, and he was just generally achy all over, worse than usual on these days. A pained moan escaped his lips unbidden, which summoned Sirius to his bedside at once.
The others had gone down to breakfast already, given the late hour, leaving the dog animagus in charge until they got back. The prefect sleeping in longer on these particular days wasn't uncommon, but they didn't want to leave him all alone, just in case. That kind of forethought was most welcome at the moment.
"Geez, Moony, you look like shit," Padfoot commented when he caught sight of the sandy-haired boy, unable to help himself.
"I know. I feel like it," Remus whispered in a rough voice, instantly sending himself into a coughing fit.
"We should get you down to the Hospital Wing," Sirius busied himself with getting some clothes and stuff ready for his friend so he wouldn't have to lift a finger.
"I… can't," Lupin looked panicked with a sudden realisation.
"I'll carry you, don't worry," Black waved him off, mistaking the statement for embarrassment at his weakness.
"No, I mean, Lily is there…" Remus rubbed at his eyes tiredly, his speech muffled by the pillow he hid his face in. "I don't know when she will be let out… and it would be awfully obvious when I leave for the Shrieking Shack before sundown."
"Madam Pomfrey will make something up. That you had to be taken to St. Mungo's or something," the dark-haired boy insisted.
"Lily is not stupid. A cold is not something you get sent there for," the werewolf gave him a flat look. It was just too risky in his opinion to give the bright witch something that would get her thinking and connecting the dots.
"But…" Sirius tried to protest, knowing full well that the healer will have their heads if they didn't immediately get Remus down to her the second he showed signs of illness on a full moon day.
It was a very tentative pact made between the Marauders and the matron, ever since it slipped out that the boys knew of Remus's monthly excursions. They were to look out for him and report anything out of the ordinary regarding his condition to Madam Pomfrey, and of course, keep quiet about the secret. Naturally, no one was aware that they joined him for the trip at every full moon ever since the beginning of last year when they figured out their animagus forms.
"And the potions… those would be really suspicious too," – the sandy-haired boy croaked again.
"Oh yeah, most of them have wolfsbane in them. Crap," Black realised. Madam Pomfrey wouldn't be giving him most of the potions that she would to other patients with a cold, but some completely different stuff. "She could just say you are allergic to something in the normal ones."
"The only common ingredient between those is aconite. Have you heard of anyone besides werewolves being allergic to it?" Remus peered up at him with a glare.
"Uhm… no," Padfoot scratched his head, trying to come up with another argument to get Moony to cave. It was a tough cookie to crack given that he was the smartest among the four of them. "Doesn't she just usually put you up in a private room?"
"Like that wouldn't be awfully suspicious," the werewolf rolled his eyes but regretted it instantly because it made his sinus headache worse. He groaned in frustration, pulling his blanket closer around himself.
"What is this really about? You have never made such a fuss about other students in the infirmary," Sirius sat down beside him on the bed placing a comforting hand on his back, checking for fever with the other. Mild one for now, but it was bound to get worse, he knew.
"Those other students are not brilliant muggleborn witches that I have daily contact with and who research every odd magical thing they encounter in the library," he had nothing against this habit of hers. Were the roles reversed he would have done the same to make sure that nothing flew over his head out of ignorance for the things that were common knowledge to those who grew up in the wizarding community.
"Right. Going by that logic, she already knows," Padfoot meant it as a joke and laughed out, but the horrified expression on Moony's face made him shut up instantly.
"Just tell Madam Pomfrey to come, she will understand. There isn't really a difference whether I'm in bed here or there," Remus said finally curling up further on himself for warmth.
"Okay, I'll be right back, you stay put," Sirius started for the door in a hurry only to rush back in to rummage through Moony's drawers, finding his handkerchiefs and placing them within his reach.
"Like I have a choice…" Remus mumbled underneath the blankets.
Lily was sitting in her bed, reading a book Marlene brought her a few minutes earlier to divert her attention from Potter and his shenanigans, not to mention the classes she would be missing that day. She felt mostly fine, her fever was finally gone, the majority of the other symptoms cleared up too, but Madam Pomfrey insisted on her staying at least until dinner time when if all went according to plan she could join her friends in the Great Hall.
Suddenly the doors burst open, and Sirius Black came barrelling in, his robes askew on his shoulders. He skidded to a halt in front of the redhead's cot when he noticed her bewildered stare.
"Cheers, Evans! Feeling better? Good," he gave her the thumbs up. "I'd love to chat, but gotta chivvy along," and continued to run off, almost slipping on the floor with his sudden start.
"Hey! Is Remus okay?" Lily inquired after him, but it seemed the Gryffindor Beater paid no attention to her as he knocked on Madam Pomfrey's office door, asking to have a private word with her.
"Totally bonkers, the whole lot of them…" she muttered to herself once he was out of sight.
Soon he reemerged with Madam Pomfrey close on his heels with a tray of potions in her hand. Just what in the world was that all about?
Remus was sitting upright, with a knitted sweater thrown over his shoulder – probably James's or Peter's doing who had already returned from breakfast, worry etching their features. The sandy-haired boy's face was in a glorious pre-sneeze expression, his breath hitching, and handkerchief in hand before his mouth in anticipation when Black made it back with the matron.
"Alright, everyone out! Don't you have classes to attend?" Madam Pomfrey shooed every out with a swift motion right when the itch finally reached its peak for Remus.
"Heh'kSHUU…eh…heh'chew… Hkkx'SCHEWW!" he sneezed trice, already wet and loud, before blowing his nose.
"Bless you, dear," the matron said, then tutted in disapproval. "Why didn't you come down last night?" she was confident that if it was this bad now, he surely felt the beginnings of it in the evening before.
"I honestly felt fine then," he dabbed his runny nose with the handkerchief before giving Madam Pomfrey a sheepish and tired smile.
"Let's see what we have got here," Poppy busied herself with the diagnostic charms as she eased Remus back into the warmth of his bed.
Soon enough his nose started to bother him again, and he reached for a fresh hankie from his nightstand, just in time to muffle the next few sneezes in it.
"Huh'kshew…h'kgnsh… heh…eh…h'KXssh…hi'kshuu…h'Kshew…hiii'KSHEW!" by the time he was done, from the spray and nose blowing it was utterly soiled too.
The werewolf shivered involuntarily as an achy chill ran up his spine. Madam Pomfrey cast a warming spell on his bed.
"Bless you. You seem to have really caught Ms Evans's nasty cold," she patted him lightly on his arm comfortingly. "Now, I can't give you most of the decongestants I gave her, or Pepper-up, although that didn't work anyway, but I have one that could help with the general achiness a bit. I usually give it to you in smaller doses anyway after transformations. Plus a honey-based potion that should help with your throat," Poppy explained in a motherly fashion.
"Thagk you," Remus mumbled gratefully after downing the concoctions deemed safe for him, the stuffiness finally reaching a point where his consonants started to mesh together.
"Are you sure you don't want to come down to the Hospital Wing? I could keep a closer eye on you," the healer inquired.
"Mm. Lily…" the sandy-haired boy protested drowsily, the potions starting to kick in. "I dod't wadt Lily to fidd out."
"Alright, get some sleep, I will check back on you in a few hours," Madam Pomfrey relented without further explanation – Mr Black had already informed her about Remus's reasoning – quietly drawing the curtains of his bed closed to let him rest.
"Madam Pomfrey, is Remus okay? I didn't make him terribly sick, did I?" Lily pounced on the healer with her questions as soon as she stepped foot back in the infirmary.
"Just a bad cold, Ms Evans, nothing to worry about," Poppy tried to reassure her, but her faltering smile told the redhead there was something really wrong.
"He is avoiding me, isn't he? That's why he asked you to see him in the Tower instead of coming down to the Hospital Wing," the redhead asked in a small voice, suddenly finding her hands very interesting. The whole situation had Madam Pomfrey torn, the two prefects were obviously close friends, but she couldn't truly comfort one without revealing the other's secret which wasn't hers to share.
"Nothing of the sort, but at the moment it was best to leave him in the warmth of his own bed, rather than having to trot through the cold, drafty castle with his fever," that wasn't necessarily a lie, but it still lacked the conviction to dissipate Lily's unease. She wanted to know what was really going on. As soon as she was let out of there, she was going to try and research the consequences of werewolf turning under less than healthy circumstances, although she doubted she would find anything useful in the library. She had to ask someone who knew about the situation but would cave easily.
That someone turned out to be Peter who she cornered right before dinner.
"How's Remus doing?" the redhead caught up with him just at the first-floor landing as she came out of the infirmary, luckily alone. If she had to guess, James and Sirius were unwilling to leave Lupin's side.
"Could be better, but it's just a cold," Pettigrew shrugged, trying to look nonchalant.
"I know it's not just a cold," Lily gave him a meaningful look.
"I mean it could be the flu…" Wormtail started feeling uneasy by the whole conversation.
"Look… I know… okay?" she stopped him, placing her hand on his shoulders to get his attention, taking a glance around if anyone was listening. "I just want to know how much danger I put him in by getting him sick on this particular day."
"I don't know what you mean…" Peter looked around shiftily wanting badly out of the situation.
"I know what you guys keep referring to as his 'furry little problem'," Lily tried again.
"He will probably be fine, but he could get a lot sicker out in the cold, now leave me alone, I never said anything!" Wormtail rattled that all off so quickly the prefect almost couldn't make out what he said, then he ran off in panic towards the Great Hall.
"Are you in the business of extorting information out of my friends now?" the voice of James had Lily almost jump out of her skin in fright.
"Potter, that's the third time in two days," the redhead spun around glaringly.
"Since when do you know?" he had to ask even if the situation wasn't ideal, but there wouldn't really be a better opportunity to follow up, and they had to know if Remus's secret was safe.
"End of third year… ever since we had to write that essay for DADA on… you know," she sighed. Sometimes she wondered if those who grew up in the wizarding world were devoid of any reasoning skills because no one else seemed to have connected the dots.
"Oh…" You could visibly see him relax. If she hadn't revealed anything for so long, she wouldn't start now. And it seemed she was really just concerned for her friend.
"Just… could you tell Remus to get well and that I'm sorry? I'm not sure he wants to talk to me anymore," the redhead pleaded.
"What? No! Nothing of the sort, he was just afraid that you would figure it out if he went down to the Hospital Wing, but that is a moot point now," Potter laughed. "Look, I really have to go, but don't worry, Remus will be okay," he trotted off towards the castle entrance, with a bag over his shoulder which she just now realised he had and that sort of left Lily wondering again.
Just a little bit earlier…
"Okay, Madam Pomfrey is meeting us by the Whomping Willow in twenty minutes, I think we should get ready," James whispered over the sleeping form of Remus. His condition hadn't improved at all during the day, it only got worse if anything, despite the potions. At least he was able to sleep through most of it.
Sirius had scooped their ill friend up in his arms with blankets and everything, the invisibility cloak thrown over them (it just about covered the two of them). You could sort of forget how thin and frail the werewolf was on good days given his above-average strength because of his condition, but now his feather-light weight had Padfoot's heart constricting. Meanwhile, James carried a bag with the stuff they intended to sneak in for him after the healer left him in the Shrieking Shack. Peter was sent on ahead to make sure they wouldn't run into trouble on their route.
The werewolf stirred somewhere around the fifth-floor landing.
"Where…?" Remus mumbled groggily.
"Shh… it's okay, we are cloaked. I've got you," Sirius whispered to him. A moment later he could feel the sandy-haired boy tense in his arms.
"Pads… I… heh… have… to… hih… sneeze…" there was really no good way about this, his hands were trapped under the blanket, and even if they weren't, he didn't have a handkerchief on him at the moment. "h'ksh…hih'kshew" he sneezed into the covers and his friend's chest. Remus was too tired to feel embarrassed about that, and Sirius seriously couldn't care less about such matters as long as they could get Moony down safely.
Fortunately, no one was around except James to hear it, but he could cover for them by faking a sneeze of his own if needed.
They made it to the first-floor landing without another incident, where they ran into Lily grilling Peter. They stayed behind around the corner hidden to see it unfold. When Peter ran off, James stepped ahead and occupied the redhead while Sirius quickly made it around them, trying to get as much distance between them as possible since he could hear Remus's breath hitching again.
"h'gnxt" he managed to stifle quietly without drawing attention.
"Since when do you know?" they heard James ask just then behind them.
"End of third year…" was all they caught from Lily's response once they reached the entrance door waiting for James to let them out. Remus looked up with tired, resigned eyes at Sirius.
"Told you so," he whispered stifling a laugh. They really should have taken a bet on that.
Moments later Prongs was with them again. Once outside they switched the cloak over to him, and they made their way towards the Whomping Willow.
Madam Pomfrey was already there and so was Peter in the form of a rat at the base of the tree, out of the matron's sight. The healer levitated Remus into the tunnel, thanking them for taking good care of him. Sirius joined James under the cloak once they were gone. Now they just had to wait to join the werewolf again in animagus form. This was going to be a long night.