"…Go knock on the door, let Lily know it's over." A far away face calls.

Lily? Lily who? What door? What's going on? My eyelids flutter open briefly, but I see nothing but hazy outlines of discombobulated figures.

Blood. I can smell it. I can taste it. I can feel it on my skin. I hear a drop smash against the floor, and with dread, I realize where I am and what has happened. I am in the Potters basement. I just returned from the clutches of the Wolf.

I open my mouth, but nothing but a weak groan escapes. "Hush," The far away voice says. James. I think to myself. "Try not to move, Moony."

My vision, though hindered, focuses in on a white protrusion bursting from my chest. What is that? I wonder frantically. I try to ask, but my voice is broken, consumed by the rage of the howls I must have sounded last night.

I fall into an uncomfortable obliviousness.

XXXXX

"I sent an owl to Poppy." A girl's voice says, shrill with poorly suppressed nerves. "I told her that we patched him up as well as we could, but that we needed help."

"I haven't seen him this bad for years." A deeper voice says.

"Didn't you do anything to help him?" The girl asks.

"Of course!" The man replies indignantly. "You don't understand; the Wolf was beyond our reach last night. Sirius, tell her."

"It took all that we had to keep him from mauling himself to death." A tired voice says.

I open my eyes and moan.

"Remus!" Three voices yell at once. In an instant, I am surrounded by familiar faces. Lily is bent over me, her auburn hair dangling in front of my face. Her eyes are sleepless and red rimmed; she's been crying. James is next to her, supporting a horribly black eye, and across from him is Sirius, who has a fat lip, crusting over with partially dried blood.

I stare at them each in turn, uncomprehendingly. I know them. I am comforted by their presence. But I am far, far away. I am in the place between reality and oblivion. It is the place your brain falls into when you a crushingly sad, and it is the place your body falls into when you are broken and mangled. I am far away, in a world ablaze with fever and hurt. An unearthly ache rages on my chest, and the blisters coating my body scream.

I can see their lips moving, but I cannot hear them. I am far away. I am so far away.

XXXXX

The next time that I wake up, I am in my own home. I am on the drab sofa in my living room. Needless to say, I am alarmed. I sit up abruptly and the entire universe spins.

"Easy there," an even voice says from across the room. Sirius, I think to myself. "You've been to hell and back, my friend."

"How long has it been?" I rasp, holding a hand to my forehead as I slowly lower myself back onto a pillow.

"Six days." Sirius says. He's sitting on the coffee table, leaning forward.

"Are we in my house?" I ask, disoriented.

I can hear the smirk on Sirius lips as he replies. "Yeah, we are. Brought you hear yesterday afternoon. James and Lily are hosting the meeting tonight, we thought you'd be less interrupted here. Hope you don't mind; I sort of made myself at home while you were zonked out."

"I don't mind," I say honestly. "not at all."

"Your owl is damn annoying." He grumbles. "It snores. What kind of owl snores?"

"You snore but we somehow managed to share a dormitory with you for seven years." I counter.

"If anyone snored, it was definitely Peter. A gentleman like myself does not snore."

"Is that so? Than what were those awful vocalizations?" I tease.

"My mating call." He laughs.

I laugh too, but then hastily grab my ribs. Sirius reaches an arm forward quickly.

"Easy there mate, you took quite the beating." He says, offering me an icepack.

"What all happened? Was it that bad?" I ask. It's been quite a few years since I've had a really bad moon. Ever since my friends became animagi, the Wolf has been more docile, so to speak.

Sirius was shaking his head. He chewed on his bottom lip, and sighed loudly. "The wolf was pissed off. We talked about it, and we think that between the physical pain from the blisters and the emotional trauma of that whole affair just left you very vulnerable. The second you were done transforming; the Wolf just went wild."

Shame bubbles up in my throat, and I start to apologize, but Sirius cuts me off.

"You were all over the place, clawing at the walls and the stairs and the doors. Prongs and I kept trying to distract you. You weren't quiet as friendly to good old Padfoot and Prongs last night." Sirius said, gesturing to the remnants of a busted lip. "When the Wolf realized there was no exiting the basement, he turned on himself. You did quite a bit of damage on yourself. Prongs and thought you were going to maul yourself to death. You nearly pulled your own ribcage out of your chest, mate."

I shudder, foggily remembering the white protrusion I had seen after my transformation. That must have been a rib sticking straight out of my chest. I clutch at the lump of bandages, and digest the displeasure that's crawling up my throat.

Sirius lays down on the coffee table dramatically, arms and legs dangling over the sides. "Your one lucky son of a gun, you know that? That's two times in a week that you should have died."

I chuckle a little bit. "Please, if anyone is lucky, it is unquestionably you. Remember when you convinced the entire common room that you were terminally ill, and would need someone to keep up on your studies? They believed you for a month! Now that was lucky."

Sirius laughs, dog like. "It's a muggle disease," he said in a mock squeaky voice. "The healers reckon I've only got a few more months to live."

We laugh fondly over the memory. "McGonagall was livid when she heard." I snort between laughs.

"Merlin, I was genuinely concerned that she would expel me." Sirius says, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye.

My laughter breaks off into a painful bought of coughing, and I clutch at my throbbing ribs. Sirius is up off of the table in an instant, right at my side.

"Are you alright, Moony?" He says, resting a hand on my shoulder.

I flap my hand at him in annoyance. "Bugger off, I'm fine." I cough. Honestly, someone as reckless and forward as Sirius Orion Black really shouldn't behave in such a maternally concerned manner; it throws you for a loop every time.

"How come Lily and Prongs aren't gather around my deathbed?" I ask lightly, sipping from a glass of water to soothe my shredded throat.

"Lily is back at Godric's Hollow, prepping the house for the meeting tonight. James is patrolling somewhere or another, I don't know where." Sirius said, all business.

"Have I missed any big developments?" I ask, my heart fluttering.

"There was a massive muggle slaughtering two days ago." Sirius says darkly. "Death eaters killed eleven innocent muggles. And most of them were children, too. They came down on a playground about fifty miles eat from here."

I clench my fists, and turn my head away. If I had been awake, I could have helped.

"It was awful. The ministry had one hell of a time trying to invent a muggle worthy excuse for what had killed all of those people." Sirius said, shaking his head.

"What happened to the Death Eaters?" I question. Part of me doesn't want to hear about this tragedy and the bloodshed, but the other part of me can't resist asking.

"They were gone before anyone got there, ministry or the Order. Nothing was left but eleven corpses, and in the mulch beneath the swing set, one of them had blasted the dark mark."

"This was an arrogance killing." I growl, pushing my hair from my face. "They're beginning to look unstoppable. This attack was definitely meant to drive that point home."

"The general wizarding commonwealth definitely responded in fear. You should've seen Diagon Alley yesterday; all the shops were closed; the streets were nearly empty. But," said Sirius, a twinkle in his eye. "A few more rebellious souls took the attack a bit to personally. We've had three more people join the order since then."

"Oh! Who?" I ask. With a murderer as evil and powerful as Voldemort, it can be difficult to find people willing to risk their lives and form a resistance.

"Don't know yet, but I think they'll be at the meeting tonight." Sirius answered. His eyes suddenly widened. "Bollocks! The meeting!" he rocketed to his feet. "Will you be alright on your own for a while? I told Lily I would be over to help her bring up some tables, don't want her straining herself. You know, because of the baby."

"Give me a moment, I'll come with you." I say, swinging my legs over the edge of the sofa.

"Oh, no you don't." Sirius says firmly. "You're staying here."

"Padfoot, I'm fi-"

"No! Moony, we are not having this conversation. Stay here, get well. Then you can get back to work." He says, in a voice that clearly states its finality. "I'll be back here tomorrow morning to check in, and don't worry, it's no bother. Rest!" He says, and then he's out the door and into the streets.

My house seems much to quite now that he is gone. I stare at the gray ceiling, and think bitter thoughts for several hours. The sun sets. The purple haze of twilight seeps through my front window, and casts long shadows on the floor. I stew in my injustice.

I may be the "good boy" in my group of friends, but I too have my rebellious streak. I am sick and tired of having the Wolf slow me down and hold me back. I'm going to this meeting, so help me God. I dig my elbows into my couch, and push myself upwards. I stand on shaky legs, and grip the coffee table for support. My chest, my blister veins, they cry out but I swallow their yells of protest.

Slowly, so slowly, I go to my room and dress myself. Slipping into fresh pants and a t-shirt makes my skin groan. I slip my tweed coat over my olive Weird Sisters t-shirt. Not very professional, but it's the lightest shirt I own.

Slowly, so slowly, I make my way into the street. The sky has changed to night, alerting me that I am late to the meeting that I was not invited too. Better late than never, right?

I apparate with a crack like a pistol, and momentarily, I feel like I am bigger than the Wolf.

Please let me know what you think! I don't think I will continue until I get at least one review. That's not unreasonable, is it?

In addition, would any of you be interested in me writing a one-shot about a "missing piece" from the story so far? Perhaps I could write the scene where Sirius and James try to take Remus to the hospital, but are turned away? Or I could write the scene where Lily receives the photograph Remus sent to her? Please let me know what missing piece scene you would be interested in reading about!