Stupid Sphere

"Why are you taking that with you?" Sirius asked, looking at the wooden sphere he'd given me.

"You told me to keep it close," I said.

"Yeah, but I doubt it'll open when you're in your wolf form and if it does you can't exactly appreciate it."

I shrugged, I didn't care as long as the wolf opened it, I could wait until I woke up to see it.

"I think it's a mistake is all," Sirius said. "I have a feeling you're only taking it so the wolf can open it." Was I really that transparent? "It won't work," he said, "I've made sure of that."

His words didn't stop me and Sirius saw this.

"Whatever," he said.


Moony's POV

I stretched my neck, it was good to be free again.

I felt good, more mature maybe. Something had shifted slightly, but I wasn't sure what.

I saw a round wooden ball on the ground, but I ignored it, I went to the window instead.

I liked looking at the moon, I howled at it.

I went to the dog next, Padfoot, and stared into its comforting eyes.

I looked for the little ball of feathers, but he wasn't here. He never came anymore and that disappointed me.

I found the jacket with the scent and took a big sniff, it calmed me.

I grabbed my ball in my mouth and threw it in the air, chasing it until I was tired.

I pawed the wooden ball, it was heavy and it made a loud noise as it slowly rolled across the floor.

I was surprised I had a new toy, but it didn't feel like a toy, it felt like something more important.

I sniffed it, I stared at it, I scratched it. Nothing. What was it?

I didn't know why, but I wanted to get inside it. I wanted to destroy it.

I put it in my mouth and bit it. It wouldn't let me.

I needed to try harder.

I opened my mouth and closed it as fast as I could.

Crack.

I howled in pain as something cracked inside my mouth.

I wasn't trying to hurt myself, or the boy, I just wanted to get inside the ball.

I scampered over to the stairs, I'd never felt pain like this before, what did I do?

I whimpered as I pulled the jacket over myself and bathed in the scent.

I reached for Padfoot and held him close. What did I do? Why did I want inside the wooden ball? Why couldn't I destroy it? Why was I in so much pain?

I tried to sleep, to take my mind off the pain, but it was too hard.

I was restless, trying not to cry out too much.

I wanted my time to end and I never wanted that. Couldn't the boy come back now?


I woke up in the worst pain imaginable and I didn't even need to strain my mind to remember what happened, I already knew, the wolf had tried to bite open the sphere. I was too hesitant to run my tongue over my teeth to see the damage.

I sat up slowly and when I felt like I could stand, I went over to the window and tried to look into my mouth in the reflection, I couldn't see much. I needed to take the risk. I carefully ran my tongue along my teeth and I didn't like what I found, or what I didn't find. I'd definitely lost some teeth, cracked some even. The pain was incredible.

I quickly got dressed, I needed Poppy. I froze, she wasn't here today, she was away for Christmas Break. It didn't matter, I didn't want to stay here. I finished getting dressed and grabbed all of my things. I glared at the wooden sphere, it was completely unmarked. Stupid sphere.

I made it to the tree and no one was waiting for me, because of that, I headed straight for Gryffindor Tower. If Poppy wasn't here then I wanted to be with Sirius. He'd make me feel better surely.

The pain was bad, but I'd gotten good at compartmentalizing it. It was still there, I was just trying not to focus on it. It worked half the time. Sirius was my goal, I just needed to get back to him.

"Fwobber worm," I said to the Fat Lady.

"That's not right," she told me.

"Flwobber worm… cwome won," I said, clearly lisping, my mouth was so jacked up. "Fl," I paused, "obber worm."

She swung open and I breathed a sigh of relief, I was almost there.

I climbed the stairs as fast as I could. Sirius was still in bed. I threw off my cloak and Sirius' jacket, abandoning all of my items on my own bed before I climbed into Sirius'. Now I was here, and I'd achieved my goal, the pain settled in fully. I whimpered as I pulled the covers over me and Sirius shot up, looking me over.

"What's wrong?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

I didn't want to tell him, he had told me not to take the sphere with me and I didn't listen.

"Remy," he said, "please."

"I… I hwurt mwy tweeth," I said, burying my head against Sirius' side even though it hurt my mouth.

"What?" he asked. "Your teeth? How? Show me."

I didn't want to, but I wanted to get this over and done with. I pulled back and opened my mouth. Sirius didn't say anything, he just grabbed his wand, lit it up and looked in my mouth.

"It's bwad, isn't it?" I said. I hated how I never listened to Sirius, I always thought I knew best, but I clearly didn't.

"Well, it's not good," Sirius said. "Why didn't you go to Poppy?"

"She's nwot hwere," I said, burying my head back against Sirius.

"What happened?" Sirius asked, running his fingers through my hair.

"Spwhere," I said and Sirius stilled his movements.

"I told you not to take it with you," he said, "please tell me you didn't bite the sphere and it was the wolf."

He really thought I would've bit it? Was he crazy? No, I was the crazy one.

"Wolf," I said, then I smiled, I didn't have trouble saying that word. The smile hurt my mouth, so I stopped and whimpered.

"Rensen," Sirius called out, "go to Irma, peck her until she follows you here."

"What awre ywou dwoing?" I asked.

"Remy, you're in pain, and if Poppy's not here then maybe Irma can help," he said, "just try and relax." He ran his fingers through my hair again. "Rensen's persistent, it won't take him long. …Remy, I know you're in pain."

I was so used to hiding my pain, pretending it didn't hurt as much as it did. Getting constantly hurt by the wolf did give me a higher pain tolerance, but I still felt it. I didn't want Sirius to know I was suffering so much, so I kept my noises to small whimpers only.

Sirius laughed lightly. This wasn't funny.

"I might have to upgrade you from awkward werewolf to silly werewolf," Sirius said, still chuckling. "I hope this time you listen to me, that sphere can't be opened by force or by wand, you have to be patient."

I decided not to respond, Sirius' hand in my hair was comforting and I liked hearing him laugh and let go even if it was at my expense. I didn't believe him though, there must be a way to get into that sphere, I just wouldn't be stupid enough to take it to the shack with me again. The wolf may be silly, but I was not.

Irma came into the room, with Rensen pulling at her cloak.

"What is going on?" she asked. "This owl is insane, you better have a good reason for making me leave my library. What happened to, Remus?"

I stayed silent, Sirius could tell her.

"The wolf bit an indestructible object," Sirius told her, "Remus has got a couple of teeth missing and a fair few of them are cracked, his tongue is slightly swollen too. I know healing bones can be tricky, so I decided not to give it a go."

"Open up," Irma said, her voice firm.

I turned so I was now lying against Sirius' chest. He wrapped his arms around my stomach and I opened my mouth.

"Okay," Irma said after she'd had a look, "it shouldn't be too hard to fix. I'll have to do each tooth individually as the damage isn't consistent. You can't move, Remus."

I nodded my head.

"Sirius," she said, "best to hold him still, I think."

"Hwey," I said and they both laughed at me. "Thwis is nwot fwunny."

"Open your mouth," Irma said. She was still smiling at me and my predicament.

Sirius moved his hands. One came to rest tightly on my forehead and the other one came up to my chin, holding me in place. Was this going to hurt?

"Don't move," she told me.

I nodded my head, well, the best I could with Sirius holding me so tightly.

"Don't nod your head," she warned.

Right.

"Sirius," Irma said, "put your thumb and forefinger up a bit higher so you can help him keep his mouth wide open."

Sirius did as he was told and my jaw was being uncomfortably stretched.

Irma got to work, it didn't hurt any more than it already was and after every tooth she fixed, a bit of the pain went away. It was a very slow process, but Irma and Sirius didn't let me give in. I just had to grit through it all.

Irma eventually finished and it was a relief, no more pain, and I could close my mouth again. Sirius arms came to rest around my stomach again. Irma saw his actions and she looked at me pointedly. I knew she thought Sirius cared for me, but this was nothing, he was just holding me because I was hurt.

"Can I leave now?" Irma asked.

"Yes," I said, thankful I wasn't lisping anymore, I guess she fixed my swollen tongue too.

"Thank you, Irma," Sirius said before I could.

I smiled, he was getting along with her. My two closest friends.

Irma nodded her head and left.

"Thanks for that," I said, not moving away from Sirius, "for getting Irma, I didn't even think of asking her."

"She's smart," Sirius said.

"How would you know?" I asked. "You don't even know her."

"She's your friend, Remy," he said, "so of course she's smart. We all know you can't tolerate stupid people."

"You know what that means," I said, yawning. Now that the pain was gone fully, I could feel my tiredness, the wolf hardly got any sleep last night.

"No, what does it mean?" Sirius asked.

"You're smart," I said, "because I can't tolerate stupid people."

Sirius laughed. "You know what," he said, "I think you're right about that."

I pulled away from Sirius and looked at him. He had never agreed that he was smart before, he always refused it, but not now?

"Calm down," Sirius said.

"No, this is a major breakthrough for you," I said, yawning again. "I'm so proud of you, Russ, my smart, intelligent, genius-"

"Genius?" Sirius scoffed. "I think you're taking this a bit far. …You need sleep, this can wait, or never be mentioned again."

No, we could never forget this moment, it was too important.

"I'm not tired." My yawn betrayed me.

Sirius shook his head. "Sleep, now," he said firmly.

I smiled, Sirius was smart and he had agreed to that fact.

"Now," Sirius said.

I wriggled down on Sirius' bed and put my head on his lap.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Too tired to move," I told him.

Sirius pushed me off him and settled down himself. When he was situated, he pulled me back against him so that my head was now level with his stomach. I rested back on him and Sirius didn't object, he just ran his fingers through my hair again and I soon fell asleep.