Part Eleven – Caught in the Middle

The next morning Remus went down to the Great Hall with the rest of the Gryffindors. James and Sirius were still talking loudly about their victory over Severus. Remus noticed that with each telling of the story they embellished it slightly and he was soon wondering how much was real and how much was a product of their own imaginations.

"Let's see if Snivellus is ready for a rematch," James laughed as they scanned the Slytherin table for the other boy.

Remus frowned slightly as he tried to find Severus but there was no sign of the small dark-haired boy anywhere in the Great Hall.

"Never mind," Sirius said as he swallowed his pumpkin juice. "We'll see him in class tomorrow."

"Yeah," replied James as he stood up from the table. "Let's go get on with the assignments that are due this week."

"Okay," Sirius agreed as he pocketed some food from the table to snack on later in the day. "You coming Remus?"

"I finished all mine yesterday," Remus admitted with a weak smile.

"Okay," James nodded with an assessing look on his face as he followed Sirius out of the hall and back to Gryffindor Tower.

"They're really proud of themselves," Lily Evans said from across the table where she sat glaring after James and the others. "I hope Severus is all right."

"I'm sure he is," Remus said, although he silently thought it was odd that he wasn't sitting with Martin Avery and the other first years at the Slytherin table. "He probably just didn't want to come down here with everyone else and listen to James and Sirius bragging."

"I hope you're right," Lily replied with a worried look of her own in the direction of the Slytherins.

For the rest of the day Remus kept to himself and spent most of his time reading ahead in his text books. He had realised that if he was always a little way ahead of the rest of the class he would not fall as far behind when he was missing classes during the times of the full moon.

Each meal time Remus went down to the Great Hall and kept a watch for Severus but he was nowhere in sight. Meanwhile James, Sirius and Peter remained in Gryffindor Tower working on their assignments for the remainder of the weekend.

Remus tried to hear what the Slytherin students were talking about at the evening meal but he could not make out any of their conversations. One thing he did notice though was that the first years were rather quieter than usual and a couple of them had expressions of worry on their faces. He wondered if it had anything to do with Severus but he didn't want to go across and ask them.

Lily however had no reservations about approaching the Slytherins and asking them where Severus was. Remus watched in admiration as she marched over to Martin Avery as he was leaving the hall.

"Wait a minute, Martin," Lily called in a loud tone that drew the attention of both Remus and several of the older Slytherin students who were near to the entrance.

"Where's Severus?" Lily demanded to know.

"He's not well," Martin answered with a careless shrug as he moved to continue out of the door.

"What's wrong with him?" Lily asked as she moved to block his way.

"Don't know," Martin answered as he tried to manoeuvre past her. "A cold or something, he's in the hospital wing."

Remus stood up and joined Lily and Martin in the doorway. "You don't go to the hospital wing with a cold," he pointed out. "It must be more serious than that."

"He was taken there about an hour ago," Martin said, still eager to leave the hall. "He was caught in the storm last night and came in all wet. Probably just bad luck."

Remus exchanged a quick glance with Lily who had turned pale at the news. Martin took advantage of their distraction to slip past and down the corridor.

"They really did leave him stuck out in the storm," Lily fumed, her face now flushing with fury.

"Maybe they didn't know how long it would take him to break free?" Remus suggested.

"They could have killed him," Lily raged as she took off down the corridor to the hospital wing. Remus followed in her wake.

They reached the entrance to the hospital wing and Lily pushed the door open quietly. Remus was behind her but was not eager to face Madam Pomfrey who had a habit of asking him if he was okay every time she saw him. He didn't want her asking questions in front of Lily who he feared might be smart enough to figure out his secret. He hesitated outside the door and didn't step inside the room.

"Is there a problem?" Madam Pomfrey asked as she hurried the room to the doorway.

"I've come to see Severus," Lily announced with a glance behind her to where Remus hesitated outside the door. "I'm Lily Evans, I wanted to see he's okay."

"He's not well enough for visitors," Madam Pomfrey said with a shake of her head and a worried glance to where Severus lay in one of the beds. Even from the corridor Remus could see that Severus was a deathly pale colour and he felt a twinge of guilt that he had not gone after James and Sirius to keep a check on them.

"Can't I see him for just a minute?" Lily asked.

"No dear," Madam Pomfrey replied as she steered Lily back out of the door. "Perhaps tomorrow, if he's a little better."

Lily nodded and walked back down the corridor. Remus followed her quietly. He noticed that Madam Pomfrey had not even noticed him, and had not taken the opportunity to remind him about his own condition in her usual vague and secretive way and that in itself told him that she was very worried about Severus.

Lily suddenly stopped a few feet down the corridor and turned back to the door. "Madam Pomfrey," she called out. The nurse stopped and turned back to her.

"Yes?" she asked without enthusiasm; she was clearly eager to return to her patient.

"Can you tell Severus I'll be taking notes for him for his classes?" Lily asked. Remus felt ashamed that he had not thought to make the offer.

"I'll tell him if he wakes up and asks about his classes," Madam Pomfrey compromised. "I don't want him worrying about his school work until he's well."

"Okay," Lily nodded and carried on down the corridor.

"That was kind of you," Remus said as they headed back to Gryffindor Tower.

"I take a lot of notes for myself anyway," Lily said, blushing slightly.

"Do you think he'll be grateful?" Remus asked, curious to know why Lily was so eager to go out of her way for the Slytherin student who was always so unpleasant to him whenever he had tried to approach him.

"Does it matter?" Lily replied. "I'll do them anyway."

Remus nodded as he became lost in his thoughts. Together they returned to the Gryffindor Tower where James and Sirius were finishing their assignments and helping Peter with his. He wondered whether to tell them about Severus or not. He was still trying to make up his mind when the decision was taken out of his hands by Lily.

At the sight of James and Sirius sitting at one of the tables in the common room Lily's face had suddenly turned as furious as Remus had ever seen it. Marching across the room she stood at the table and glared at James and Sirius until they looked up at her.

"What's up?" Sirius asked as he chewed on the end of his quill.

"Do you know what you've done?" Lily shouted, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. "Do you know what the pair of you have done?"

"Well I've done my History of Magic essay," James replied with a grin. "Or was it something else you meant?"

"I meant about Severus," Lily yelled.

"What about Snivellus?" James asked with a smirk. "Does he want a rematch?"

"He's in the hospital wing?" Lily hissed.

Remus watched as James and Sirius exchanged a look of worry. Maybe they were regretting their actions.

"He's probably putting it on," Peter said. "Looking for sympathy or something."

"He's unconscious," Lily snapped at him. "I don't think he's enjoying the attention he's getting right now."

"Really unconscious?" James asked, with a look of regret on his face.

"Yes," Remus confirmed with a nod. "We've just come back from the hospital wing."

"What were you doing there?" Sirius asked.

"We were showing concern for a friend," Lily snapped with a glare at Sirius. "You might try it some time."

"That's not fair," Sirius pointed out. "Besides Snivellus wouldn't want our concern anyway."

"His name's Severus," Lily shouted in fury. "You could start making an effort by using it."

"But Snivellus suits him so much better," James replied.

"You're both impossible," Lily said with a shake of her head as she moved away from the table and took a seat in front of the warm fireplace.

Remus sat down at the table and turned to James. "Why did you wind her up like that?" he asked with a glance in Lily's direction.

James shrugged and turned back to his essay.

"Is he really ill?" Sirius asked from across the table.

"He's unconscious and looked awful," Remus said.

"He'll be okay though?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know," Remus admitted. "Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let us stay to see him and she looked really worried."

"He'll be okay," James said in a confident tone. "Madam Pomfrey can fix anything. She sorted out our teeth didn't she Peter?"

"Yeah," Peter agreed. "Some muggle-like cold will be easy enough for her to remedy."

"Are you sure about that?" Remus asked. "Not everything has a cure." He knew that better than anyone.

"Do you know if he's told anyone about the duel?" Peter asked, clearly worried about his part in it. Remus looked at Peter, shocked at his selfish question.

"I don't know," he replied. Silently he added to himself that it might teach the three of them a lesson if Severus did tell Madam Pomfrey or one of the professors what had happened.

"Remus?" Lily called from across the room. "Do you still have that catalogue from Diagon Alley?"

"Sure," he nodded. Since the day he had brought it out for the photos of Filch he had been loaning it out to the other first and second year students on a regular basis so that they could order their favourite items from Diagon Alley. He kept a huge supply of order forms for Gambol of Japes joke shop that were always in demand but somehow he doubted that that was what Lily was after.

Standing up he went up to the dormitory and after finding the catalogue he took it down to Lily.

She flicked through the pages until she finally came across the one that she was looking for.

Scribbulus Everchanging Inks
Stationery for all Occasions

Parchment, Inks, Quills and Cards available by mail order

10 knuts off your first order if you reply by owl before 31 October.

Remus looked over Lily's shoulder to see what it was she was considering ordering. He suspected what she was looking for, as he knew that she had plenty of quills and parchment. His suspicion was confirmed when he saw her point to one of the cards on the page.

"What do you think of this one?" she asked.

Remus looked at the picture of the get well soon card that Lily pointed to. "It's okay," Remus muttered, glancing across to where James was watching him from the table.

"I think it's great," Lily said. "It comes with a spell on it to induce pleasant dreams."

"You want to order it then?" Remus asked. He wondered if he should get one for himself as his own dreams were rarely pleasant. He was thankful the other first year boys were heavy sleepers and he had not yet disturbed their sleep with his recurring nightmares.

"Yes," Lily replied as she started to fill out the form to order the card. "Do you want to sign it when it gets here?"

"That's okay," Remus said with a shake of his head. "I might get him something else instead."

He took back the catalogue as Lily finished filling in the delivery details. Flicking through it he saw another popular shop with the students and scribbled out an order form himself for several boxes of Every Flavour Beans. He wondered if Severus would like them, but suspected he would not accept them if they were from himself. He thought perhaps it might be better to leave the get well gifts to Lily. He could always give her a box and suggest that Severus might like them if they were from her.

That would be better, he reasoned with himself as he headed out of the common room with Lily to send the owls to Diagon Alley with their orders.

Maybe James and Sirius would leave Severus alone now that they had seen what they had done.