Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter, but I do own a lizard named Larry! Okay, I don't own that either.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx- Monday, September 20th, 1971
Finn walked down the halls of Hogwarts, holding a container full of bubotuber pus from Professor Sprout for a girl in the Hospital Wing. He poked his head inside the infirmary. Inside there was a third-year girl with a large amount of acne on her face, a fifth-year boy with a busted lip and a black eye, and in the far corner at the back of the wing was a bed that looked to be occupied, but he couldn't tell, for large white curtain surrounded the bed. He looked around, Madam Pomfrey was nowhere in sight. A small voice inside protested as Finn crept towards the curtained section. He shouldn't be violating someone's privacy like this, but at the same time, he had always been a curious child. Carefully he crept forward. As he was beginning to pull back the curtains, the small voice in the back of his head stopped him once again.
'What do you think you're doing? The curtains are up for reason you nitwit. Whoever is in there doesn't want to be disturbed!' the voice said indignantly. But Finn, being Finn, discarded the voice's words and pulled back the curtains. What he saw made him gasp in shock, a boy about his age was lying up against the white and fluffy Hospital Wing pillows. His face was covered in an array of nasty cuts and bruises, some of which were still bleeding and his tawny-colored hair was matted with blood. And not to mention the bulge of a cast under the blankets where the boy's leg would normally be. But what shocked him most was the boy's chest, bandages that were already red with blood were wrapped around his entire right arm, blood trickled from two jagged cuts on his chest, while his left arm was badly bruised with deep teeth marks on the crook of his elbow. The bite marks were pretty familiar, he had seen them before, on the leg of his Uncle Fred, these were werewolf bites. But there was another thing similar about the boy, the tawny hair, the shape of his jaw, and the three scars. Then it hit him like a punch in the stomach, this was Remus his roommate, Remus was a werewolf. He was sharing a room with a werewolf.
Finn tried to back away, he didn't want Madam Pomfrey to find him. But it was too late, Remus was opening his eyes.
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Remus hurt everywhere. He could feel a bandage on his right arm and blood was slowly trickling down his chest. He groaned and opened his eyes. He could faintly see someone standing at the foot of his bed. Groggily, he shook his head to clear his vision, resulting in a jab of pain, causing him to cry out. At once, the figure was at his bedside. To his surprise, it was the new boy in their dorm, Finn. Remus yanked his bedsheets up to his chest, but it was too late, he had seen everything, the scars, the cuts, the blood, the bandages, and the bites. Remus opened his mouth to explain, but he didn't have to.
"It's okay, I know."
This was too much, he was going to be executed, or worse, expelled. He would never live to see past his first year, he would never get married, never get a job, never read all the books in the Hogwarts library, and never see his friends again. The small boy broke down in tears. He covered his face with his hands as sobs wracked his frail body.
"Remus, it's okay, I won't tell! Don't cry!" Finn pleaded, "Madam Pomfrey's gonna come! Please!" At that Remus seemed to slow down. 'Thank Merlin the other children didn't notice, there must be a silencing charm up around the bed,' Finn thought.
"I-I'm s-s-so-so-sorry. I'll pack up and l-leave as s-soon a-a-as po-possible," Remus cried in between gasps.
Finn was an affectionate person. His mother held him as he drifted off to sleep up until the time he was five, and his younger brother, Hugh, was always hanging around Finn and begging to be picked up. The extended family would come to visit and there would be cuddling among cousins and siblings while the adults hugged and caught up on recent events. It was a common thing amongst the Jones family. Finn had been raised to show affection and accept it in return.
So the blonde didn't think much of it when he leaned down and hugged Remus. But the other boy sat stiff with shock, he was being hugged. Not just that, but by someone who knew he was a werewolf, a dark creature, a monster, a stain upon the world, an abomination of nature, a creature that deserved nothing but death.
"It's okay Remus, I'm still your friend," Finn said into Remus' hair. Hesitantly, Remus wrapped his arms around the other boy in an awkward hug. Remus fell asleep that way, still wrapped in Finn's arms.
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Finn slowly removed his arms and laid Remus down back onto the pillow. He stared down at the boy fondly.
Now he understood why Remus was so upset when Professor Jones was talking about werewolves. Remus was shorter than everyone else and not to mention more pale. Now it all made sense, considering what he had to go through each month, sometimes without proper healing or aftercare. It was awful just thinking about it, his Uncle Fred had died after only three full moons. It was amazing that Remus was still alive at his age.
Realizing he should be going before Madam Pomfrey got back, he picked up the bubotuber pus and placed it on the desk at the front of the room, and with one last glance at the sleeping, battered body on the bed, he left.
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