It's been far too long for an update, to say the least. But I am slowly regaining the..confidence..to attempt other ideas. Well, not quite. But. An explanation is unecessary. Nonetheless, here we go...
James turned back to see Sirius stirring slightly.
"Sirius," he prompted, shaking his friend slightly.
"Mmph," Sirius merely replied, shuffling beneath the sheet upon him.
"Listen to me," James urged as he stood by Sirius' bedside, impatiently clutching at the bar beside the bed.
"What?" came Sirius' muffled response.
"Pomfrey will be back any minute, with Dumbledore, no doubt," James began in a rush, "What do you intend to say?"
"The truth," Sirius answered almost immediately.
Before James could request that Sirius elaborates, Remus burst through the doors.
He paused to observe Sirius lying half asleep in the bed.
"What happened?" he asked outright, nearing Sirius and James.
James took a deep breath, before deciding that he was the only one well enough to convey the events.
"Well, after you had gone, I e-"
"It was him," Sirius said, raising a shaking finger to point over to Severus' bed.
Almost as soon as Remus recognised the figure in the bed opposite, he sighed, before adding bitterly, "I didn't realise this was an appropriate way to react to one you had been kissing not a moment sooner."
"Kissing?!" James cried, looking across the Severus' bed in disgust, before casting the same disbelieving look to Sirius.
"I-" Sirius paused, closing his eyes again as the world shook, "I wouldn't intentionally kiss him if you paid me to – it wasn't my fault."
Remus could only bring himself to believe fifty percent of the statement.
"You kissed Snivellus," James repeated, looking as though he too were ready to collapse.
"So did Remus," Sirius wheezed, "He'll be on you next, Prongs."
As James began to look a pale green colour, the doors flew open.
"-a small sample of it is absolutely fine," Madame Pomfrey said, pushing open the doors to allow Professor Slughorn through them too.
"I can simply assure you it was Polyjuice that young Sirius had been brewing," Slughorn said, sounding weary, "I have been in this business a fair more amount of years than I care to admit," he went on, pausing to look across at Sirius, Remus and James.
"Sirius was brewing Polyjuice?" Remus asked, turning to Slughorn.
"Well of course – you must have spotted it when you were looking for him," Slughorn answered him.
"'Looking for him,' Sir, I wasn't," Remus went on; a small crease forming between his eyes.
"You were in my classroom earlier," Slughorn said, bewildered.
"...Sorry?" Remus was equally confused.
Rather than answering, Slughorn closed his eyes briefly and shook his head, "Of course, of course," he kept muttering.
When he parted his lids, he noted that Remus' uniform was a reasonable fit – not too large at all, as it had been earlier.
"Sirius Black used Polyjuice potion to look like you, Remus," Slughorn said aloud, peering past Remus to look at the guilty looking marauder lying in the bed, pretending to be asleep.
"He wanted to know who it was I was dating," Remus whispered silently, tearing his gaze away from Slughorn's to look over at Severus, who appeared to be slowly sitting upright.
"All I am interested to know is why the boy appears to be ill, after this," Madame Pomfrey interjected before anyone could comment on Remus' mild epiphany.
A voice over the other side of the room spoke out, "He messed up the stirring."
Several faces turned to look at Severus, propping himself up on his arm.
Madame Pomfrey immediately stepped forth to sort out the boy's pillows, briskly moving his arm away to ensure he was well.
"The stirring?" Remus asked.
"He stirred it too many times clockwise," Severus pointed out, for Remus' benefit alone.
Slughorn was already nodding in a quiet understanding.
"Didn't you know this already, Sir?" James said. It seemed everyone had forgotten his presence, due to his lack of verbal participation.
"It didn't even cross my mind," Slughorn answered honestly, "I was naive enough to assume he was trying out something as practise for the exam."
No longer listening, Remus was making his way over to Severus, in a small mingle of anticipation.
"Sirius Black is going to pay for this," Severus spat.
"He sure is," Remus agreed softly.
"I honestly had no idea," Severus began carefully.
"Neither did I," Remus shrugged.
Severus' breathing seemed to be gaining haste, and it didn't take long for Madame Pomfrey to attempt to usher Severus to lie back down.
"He'll pay for it," Severus growled.
Remus, in agreement, looked over to Sirius' bed, before adding quietly, "Okay...but for now, he needs to rest."
Madame Pomfrey nodded in agreement with Remus.
"You're too kind," Severus pointed out, stopping his movement to withdraw his wand.
"But you love me for it," Remus answered, reaching out to take Severus' hand.
"That I do," Severus agreed, clasping their hands together.
It probably could have been a lot, lot better. Perhaps another day, I'll come to rewrite it. We'll see.
Allow me to say thanks for your patience :)
I hope everything is well, for you all.