The Early Years

Recap:

Meanwhile, James and Sirius hovered over Remus, "We didn't know it was so serious, we thought it was just side effects of his transformation,"

Suddenly, Remus vomited deep, red blood.

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"Water…" Remus croaked. His throat felt painfully dry. He surveyed his surroundings and realised he was in the Hospital Wing. The lights were switched off and he could see moonlight streaming in through a nearby window. There was a glass of water on a side table beside his bed. He tried to reach for it but collapsed back on the bed. He was too tired. Remus shut his eyes and tried to ignore the pain in his throat. Suddenly, he felt something touch his lips and soon, he was gulping down water. After drinking his fill, he dozed off to sleep, not wondering where the water came from.

"Argh…" Remus was awakened by a throbbing headache. He felt something lying against his leg and lifted his head to look. What greeted him was something quite unexpected. Kat was sitting in a chair and had fallen asleep with her head on his lap. He felt colour rise up to his cheeks…

"She was here the whole time?"

Suddenly, Kat stirred in her sleep and woke up, yawning and rubbing her eyes. She saw Remus and looked startled.

"Up already?"

Remus nodded, red still staining his cheeks.

Kat noticed this and asked worriedly, with one hand on his forehead, "Are you feeling okay? You seem quite red,"

At this, Remus blushed even harder, "Were you here the whole night?"

"Uh huh," Kat nodded, standing up, "I'll go get you some water to drink,"

Remus looked up to the ceiling, "She was here the whole night, taking care of me,"

"What's up?" Kat said, grinning at her own joke. She had returned with a glass of water and some pills, "Swallow them," she ordered, "They're painkillers I brought just in case I get sick," she quickly added after seeing the sceptical look on Remus' face.

Remus nodded and swallowed the pills obediently.

"What's wrong with me?" He asked.

"Nothing serious, really. It's some kind of muggle sickness. Jo's the expert, ask her," Kat said, smiling slightly at the previous day's events.

Remus was about to ask her where the rest of the gang had gone when Kat spoke, "Jo had special permission to go buy some medicine for you since Madam Promfey doesn't has any… Poor lady, has been looking so helpless and distraught since you came in, oh, and Sirius went with her,"

Remus was about to ask where Lily and James were when Kat spoke again, "If you were wondering where James and Lily went, they had to attend classes and help us collect our homework. They were grumbling the whole night,"

"Wow, she reads my mind," Remus thought.

"I don't really read your mind, it's written all over your face," Kat said plopping down on the bed with a thermometer.

Remus started gaping, "Do my facial expressions say that much?"

"Say ah…" Kat said as she popped the thermometer into Remus' mouth.

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"Got the medicine!" Jo said breathlessly as she burst into the Hospital Wing, Sirius following close behind.

"Gee… took you 2 long enough…" Lily said dryly.

Lily, James and Kat were gathered around Remus' bed.

"It's not my fault, Mr. Black tried to ask for aspirin at A&W but ended up buying a curly fries instead," Jo said rolling her eyes.

"Hey, the girl at the counter talked me into it," Sirius protested.

"Yeah, and after I finally brought the aspirin, he just had to lose it,"

"I found it anyway…"

"In the dustbin, yes,"

"I thought it was rubbish okay?"

Remus raised an eyebrow, " You mean to say my aspirin has been in the dustbin?"

"I bought another one,"

"Oh, okay,"

"Here," Jo said as she dumped all the contents of a plastic bag she was carrying onto the bed.

There were a few boxes of aspirin, a thermometer, a bottle of cough mixture, many, many boxes of tissue paper and a yellow polka dot bikini?

"Oops! How did it get there?" asked Sirius innocently

"Why… did you buy that?" asked James.

"The salesgirl talked me into buying it!"

"You big prat!" Jo hit him on the head, "Anybody can talk you into buying something,"

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Kat woke up, sweating. She had a bad feeling about something. She was back in her dorm. Remus was feeling better and had insisted that she moved back to her dorm. She quietly got out of bed and went down to the common room.

"What is wrong with me?"

Slowly, she walked around the common room. Then it was as if her feet had minds of their own because she walked out of the common room without really thinking to. She was walking towards the Hospital Wing, the feeling she was having, getting stronger with every step she took.

"Okay, what am I doing wearing my pyjamas, walking in the halls at 3 in the morning? I could get caught!"

But she continued walking and walking, then slowly, she broke into a run. She ran all the way to the Hospital Wing and pushed open the doors, panting, hoping…

…that everything would be alright.

Remus' bed was empty.

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Ooh… cliffy! Haha. Ok, maybe not.

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"Remus," Kat whispered.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and whirled around, hand on her wand.

"Remus!" Kat exclaimed, and ran into his arms, sobbing onto his shirt, "I thought you were gone,"

Remus was momentarily frozen, "Eh… no, I'm okay… don't worry,"

"Oh, sorry," Kat said, embarrassed as she pulled away from Remus.

Suddenly, they heard an explosion and pieces of the ceiling fell down, narrowly missing them.

"I knew something was wrong…"

"What was that?" Remus asked worriedly.

"I…" Kat trailed off, "I don't know,"

At just about the same time Kat went down to the common room, Jo woke up. She glanced over at Kat's bed and realised it was empty. Jo sighed. She had wanted to talk about Sirius' recent strange behaviour around her. He always avoided her eyes and seemed red. Was he angry with her about something?

"Kat should know," Jo thought, "She's very observant,"

After ten minutes, Jo started to get worried. Kat still wasn't back. Had something happened to her? She decided to go and investigate. Jo went down to the common room but Kat was still nowhere in sight.

"I'll just peep outside…"

Jo popped outside and saw a shadow not very far from her. Feeling curious, she set out to follow the shadow. As she turned round the corner, she came face to face with…

Snape.

He was clearly surprised but maintained his cool, "What are you doing here?"

"Excuse me? This is the Gryfffindor part of the tower and I'm a Gryffindor. I have every right to here, unlike some certain Slytherin,"

"Well… it is a free country and I have every right to be wherever I want," snapped Snape. (haha, I just had to put that in.)

"Okay… so what are you doing here?" asked Jo, "trying to plant a bomb or something?"

At this, Snape paled but smirked, "Curiousity killed the cat,"

"I'm no cat… how did you learn a muggle saying anyway?" Jo asked, surprised.

"Curiousity killed the cat," Snape repeated, only this time with a tad of annoyance in his voice.

"If you don't tell, I'll tell Dumbledore you were behaving suspiciously in the Gryffindor part of the tower," Jo replied.

Silence.

Jo had only meant that as a joke but Snape actually took her seriously and drew out his wand, "You will tell no one,"

"Oh yeah? Watch me," Jo taunted.

Snape tried to hex her but missed narrowly.

"Why you little slimy good-for nothing git," Jo drew out her wand, "How dare you hex me,"

"Be quiet, someone will hear us!" Snape was clearly panicking now.

"What? You got something to hide?" Jo taunted again, throwing a hex at Snape.

She missed but Snape was clutching his arm and looked like he was in great pain.

"Stop pretending, my hex didn't even hit you," Jo said, "for once," she added as an afterthought.

Snape continued wincing and clutching his arm.

Jo looked at him, worried, "Is he really injured?" she thought.

Jo moved towards him, "Are you alright?"

"Just get out of here," Snape said glaring at her, "Don't come any nearer,"

Jo moved closer.

"You leave me no choice!"

Before she knew it, Jo was hit by black ball of fire and was flung across the hall. The last thing she saw was Snape yelling in pain and rocking back and forth, still clutching his arm. Then, she blacked out.

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"I just hope everything is alright," Kat thought as she and Remus rushed towards the Gryffindor common room, the place they thought they heard the explosion.

They reached the Gryffindor tower.

"No…" Kat whispered, "No…"

She rushed over to Jo, "Jo… answer me. Speak to me. Say anything. Tell me how big a prat Sirius is,"

"Kat," Remus tapped her shoulder, "Look,"

Kat followed Remus' fingers and realised he was pointing at Snape. She and Remus traded worried looks, "I'll inform Dumbledore,"

Snape continued to rock back and forth, "Master will come soon, Master will come soon…"

Kat was worried. Snape seemed… disturbed by something. She looked at the passageway Remus disappeared into. "Remus, hurry,"

Kat sat beside Jo, hugging her knees tightly to herself, and looked around, "Oh boy,"

Ten minutes later, help arrived. Remus appeared behind her with Dumbledore in tow.

Professor Dumbledore surveyed the scene in front of him and ordered Kat and Remus to bring Jo to Madam Pomfrey. "I wouldn't even ask what you both are doing up, so late at night," and gave them a wink.

That succeeded in embarrassing them.

"No Professor… We were just… you got it wrong… never mind,"

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Jo sat up in bed, rubbing her temples.

Suddenly, Lily and James darted into the room, "Quick! Sirius is coming!"

"Uh, so?"

"James sort of told him, you died,"

Jo raised an eyebrow, "Okay… so what do I do?"

"Pretend to be dead," James said as he pulled the covers over her head, "Now be awfully still,"

Just then, Sirius dashed into the room and saw his two friends standing by Jo's bedside, shaking their heads.

"NO!!!" Sirius wailed as he ran up to Jo and started sobbing on her, "I haven't told you about my latest prank, I haven't tested my latest prank on you! How could you go! I… I haven't even told you how much I… how much I…"

Suddenly, Jo sneezed.

"How much you?" Lily prompted, "Go on…"

"Did Jo just sneezed?" asked Sirius, sensing something fishy.

"Uh…no?" came a muffled voice from under the covers.

Sirius stared blankly at 'dead' Jo.

"Oh alright!" Jo said emerging from under the covers, "I hate it when you get all emotional on me,"

Sirius glared at alive Jo but at the same time blushed at what he nearly spilled.

"We were this close!" Lily said as she pressed her thumb and index finger together to emphasize her point, "This close!"

"I know," James said, the disappointment evident in his voice.

"This close about what?" asked Jo, a puzzled look on her face.

"This close to Sirius finally admitting mpha adfklj padfkjl mgag adyutle!"

Sirius had clamped his hand over James' mouth, "Nothing… nothing…"

"This close to finally admitting how much he loves," Lily stopped in mid-sentence, Sirius was giving her the glare, "cooking utensils?"

Jo blinked, "Wow Sirius, you hid you passion for cooking utensils really well!"

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Haha. So what's up with Sirius' passion for cooking utensils? So in this chapter you got to find out what happened to Remus…This chapter was specially dedicated to all Remus lovers and fanatics! Yep! Also to those people who want to see Sirius really confused! Because I love making Sirius confused! Yes, and review please!