This wasn't originally a 100% Remus/Callie chapter but it ended up being easier to split, to the next one will be 100% James/Lily and should be up sometime today. I'd do it now but its 4:30 AM and I'm exhausted. As always I own nothing and thanks for reading!
Callie hardly got any sleep. She knew Remus was probably used to this by now, but she still couldn't help worrying. She'd read once that werewolves who didn't have anything to distract them often attacked themselves out of frustration and she couldn't stop thinking about it and hoping that he was alright. How badly could he injure himself?
After maybe four hours of sleep she woke up early in the morning to see the full moon still in the sky outside her window. Sighing she got out of bed and decided to take a long hot shower, trying to kill time until the sun came back up.
When she was done she pulled on a pair of jeans and a dark red sweater and sat in the common room, watching the sky. Finally, when the sky started to turn light purple and orange and she was too anxious to sit still anymore she grabbed her book bag and climbed out of the portrait hole.
The doors to the hospital wing were locked, so Callie sat down on the floor beside them and waited. After what felt like ages, but was really only a few minutes, Madam Pomfrey returned, escorting Remus who looked like he'd just lost a fight with half a professional quidditch team.
Despite feeling like hell Remus felt a flutter in his chest when he realized that Callie was awake at the crack of dawn waiting for him. Her smile faltered slightly when she saw how bad he looked but Remus just grinned at her.
"Ms. Moore, what are you doing?" Madam Pomfrey asked.
"Waiting for him. It's Christmas Eve." She reasoned.
Madam Pomfrey didn't look pleased but she nodded and let Callie follow them into the hospital wing, gesturing for her to sit down while she examined his injuries.
Remus insisted that he felt much better than he looked, which was a lie, but after tending to his injuries Madam Pomfrey said that he could go back to his dormitory.
"You didn't have to wait for me, you know." He said once they were in the halls.
"I couldn't sleep." She said. "I was worried about you."
"You don't have to worry about me either." Remus assured her, though he had to admit that it felt good to know she cared enough to worry about him.
Callie looked over and took in her now very bandaged and tired looking friend limping down the hall beside her.
"Couldn't help it."
On their way up to the dorm the two of them discovered that, thanks to his injuries, Remus was having trouble with stairs. Callie put her arm around him to help him up the stairs and into the Gryffindor common room.
"Are you sure you shouldn't still be in the hospital wing?" Callie wondered.
"I probably should be." He admitted with a nod.
Callie glared at him but Remus just gave her an innocent smile that she couldn't help thinking was adorable as she helped him up the stairs to his dorm.
"Are you really alright?" She frowned.
Remus nodded reassuringly.
"I'm fine. Really, this is totally average."
Callie looked him over briefly.
"I'll let you get some rest then." She said, turning to leave.
"Wait!" Remus said before he could stop himself.
"Yeah?"
"Don't go yet."
As much as she wanted to stay, she was about to object so that he could sleep but when she saw the expression on his face she sat down beside him on his bed.
"It's a little early but do you want your Christmas gift?" She asked, leaning back against his headboard and pulling a square package wrapped in red and green paper out of her bag. She handed it to him before he could answer.
Remus held it and glanced over at her.
"You really didn't have to - I mean just staying with me for the holiday is more than enough."
"Well I'm not taking it back so you better open it." She insisted, nudging him excitedly.
Remus sighed and tore open the gift. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he stared at a small blank canvas about the size of a textbook with a red and gold frame.
"Now tap it right there with your wand." She said, pointing to a spot on the bottom left corner of the frame with his initials in it.
Remus did as she said and colors began swirling across the canvas showing him his own happy memories.
He saw the day his parents took him to get his wand, the moment he found out that his friends became animagi so he wouldn't have to be alone, and the day in the hall when Callie told him she cared about him no matter what he was, all painted out and moving like a movie.
"Callie - how -?"
Remus was at a loss for words, he could hardly believe what he was looking at.
"Well, at first I was just going to paint you something, but I wasn't sure what. And I read this book about enchanting objects, and then when I was in the hospital wing I remembered all the stuff you were saying after the last full moon and I decided that I wanted to give you something to remind you that you always have people who care about you no matter what. Whenever you tap that spot with your wand it'll show you memories with the people that love you." She said, blushing slightly as she finished, suddenly worried that it was a stupid idea.
Remus couldn't even find the words to tell her how much he loved it. For a while he just stared down at the gift, Callie waiting anxiously for him to speak, then he finally looked up at her.
"Do you like it?" She asked hesitantly.
"Yes. Callie...this is incredible! I can't believe you made this. How did you make it?"
Callie leaned back against his headboard again, leaning toward Remus, and explained the spells she had used.
"You're amazing." He muttered tiredly when she was done. "I...have a gift for...you...too..." He tried to point to it but he was so tired he fell asleep before he could even finish the sentence.
Callie giggled quietly as Remus drifted off beside her, his head rolling to the side so it was resting on her arm. Now that he was asleep she looked more closely at the cuts and bruises from last night. Though he was bandaged now she'd noticed a couple bite marks on his arms. He had a thin cut running parallel to the scars that were already on his face and his sandy colored hair was messy enough to compete with James.
She'd never asked how long ago he was bitten but she knew it was before they started school. She thought back to the little boy he'd been first year and tried to imagine him going through this then and felt terrible. It must have been terrifying to go through all this when he was just a kid.
Callie considered trying to slip away so she wouldn't disturb him but didn't want to risk waking him and, if she was being honest, didn't want to leave just yet. She shifted to pull the blankets up over him and let him continue sleeping on her.
It was a few hours later when Remus woke up to find Callie asleep in his bed beside him. She was turned toward him and at some point he had put his arm around her waist under her sweater. He tensed instantly, his hand curling into a fist, he was about to pull back and wake her up so he could ask her to leave but there was really nothing he wanted less right now.
For the millionth time Remus reminded himself that there could never be anything between them.
Except to him there already was something between them, even if he believed that it was entirely one sided. He knew too well that he was doing a horrible job of keeping his feelings in check but when he was around her everything that happened felt so natural he had to remind himself to stop.
This is going to end up hurting sooner or later. He told himself. But right now...it's too perfect. And besides, how much did it really matter as long as he was the only one getting hurt? He knew what to expect, so it might not be so bad. He couldn't imagine anyone ever feeling about him the way he felt about Callie, especially not Callie.
But then again, here she was, staying at school over Christmas for him, waiting up worrying about him, falling asleep beside him...he opened his hand and gently pulled her closer, brushing his fingers across her soft skin. For a second Callie opened her eyes and wrapped her arm around him, smiling softly and snuggling closer as she fell back asleep.
A sad smile crossed his face as he drifted back to sleep with her in his arms.
Remus felt Callie wake up before he opened his eyes. He silently cursed himself for not waking her up earlier and asking her to leave. What would she think now? She could swear all day that she didn't mind being friends with a werewolf but he was absolutely certain that no girl in her right mind would ever want to spend the morning after a full moon cuddling with a werewolf. How could he be so stupid? She obviously hadn't intended to fall asleep in his bed, and now he'd just had to go and make things awkward.
He felt Callie gently nudge him and mumble his name, still sounding half asleep and bloody adorable good damn it and reluctantly opened his eyes. Callie was propped up on her elbows, looking over at him. Remus quickly pulled away the arm that was still around her and smiled nervously.
"Wanna go get lunch?" She asked.
For a second he just stared at her. He hadn't known what to expect, but he'd definitely been waiting for more of a negative reaction.
"Yeah. Yeah, just…give me a second to get changed."
Callie got up and went to wait for him downstairs and Remus jumped out of bed and quickly pulled on clean clothes. Had she just felt too awkward to say something? She didn't seem uncomfortable when she woke him up. He was starting to feel like James, overanalyzing everything that happened between them. He'd have to tell Sirius to slap him if he started running his hand through his hair every time she walked in the room.
Callie waited in the common room for Remus to come down hoping she hadn't made things awkward between them. She hadn't meant to fall asleep but she was just so tired. And it was Remus who put his arm around her and pulled her closer to him. She was certain she'd seen him smiling as he fell back asleep.
She lied back on the couch, fidgeting with a pillow. She was losing her mind trying to figure this boy out. He was so hot and cold! Sometimes she was certain he returned her feelings for him, but then other times he'd pull back and be almost distant with her. She wondered if maybe she was pushing him but she thought she'd been trying her hardest not to make her feelings too obvious until she knew how he felt. He was just so hard to figure out. She could live with it if all he ever wanted to be was friends, but wondering would be the death of her.
When Remus came down a minute later he was holding something by his side where she couldn't see it.
"Ready to go?" She asked.
"Not yet."
Remus sat down on the couch beside her and handed her something wrapped in blue paper.
"I know Christmas isn't until tomorrow, but since you already gave me my gift I thought I'd give you yours. Its not nearly as great as what you gave me but, er…I tried."
He bit his thumb nail as he watched her open it. After what she gave him he felt like almost nothing could possibly measure up but he felt relieved when her face lit up and she beamed at him as she unwrapped a thick sky blue leather journal.
"Is it alright? I remembered you saying you really liked it earlier in the year, and then you said you ran out of pages in the one you already had so I thought…" He trailed off, tapping the cover of the journal with his index finger.
She'd been practically gushing over it at Hogsmeade last fall but she hadn't had the money to buy it at the time. He'd actually saved up and bought it for her over a month ago but once he actually had it he felt too awkward just giving it to her for no reason. Ever since she ran out of space in her old journal she'd been drawing and writing little thoughts and notes down on random bits of parchment, which she constantly lost and as much as Remus loved finding them lost around the school he thought she'd appreciate something a little more organized.
"Remus, its perfect! How did you even remember that?" She threw her arms around him before he could answer and he shrugged into the hug.
"Come on." He said evasively. "Let's go get lunch before it's too late."
