Author's Note: Internalized homophobia in this chapter. Also mention of emetophobia in this chapter but it doesn't happen, just a couple brief dialogue lines. Finally, I am rewriting Sirius's side story and the new version of chapter one will be posted probably sometime this weekend; I will be deleting the old story. Just a head's up for that.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Remus's dreams all night were foggy, hot, and uncomfortable. He woke up multiple times, debating going to get a cold shower; when he awoke at around seven he gave up trying to sleep and despite having a shower the night before, got another one. This one cold, getting rid of all the tingly feelings he didn't want to have. Everyone else was still asleep when he returned, but it was almost seven-thirty so he just got dressed and went first to owlery (Arthur seemed really weak, but otherwise all right) before going to breakfast.
He had his nose stuck in a book, stuffing blood pudding in his mouth when his friends fell into seats around him.
"What're you doing up so early?" James asked.
Remus jumped a little, dropping his fork. "Oh! Er, m—morning. I, uh, didn't sleep well." Then he was worried Sirius might somehow know why, might somehow suspect how flustered Remus had gotten over the hand and the—the close face.
"Too worried about Arthur?" Pete asked.
Thank Merlin. "Yes," he said swiftly. "Oh. Er, James, I—I won't be needing the, um, mon—money."
James slapped the table. "Don't you bloody well back out of—"
"I gave him enough to cover it," Sirius cut James off before he threw a fit. "I know you already bought loads of presents—"
"What?!" Remus demanded.
"—and I didn't have much—"
"That doesn't matter!" he hissed out, but of course Sirius ignored him.
"—so I gave it to him."
"I would have helped too!" Peter protested. "I've got a couple sickles in my—" He stopped, and began going red, "—oh. Oh, yeah, I'm stupid."
Remus gave him a smile. "I appreciate it though, thank you. I really don't need any more money, though. And if I've any change you can have back, of course."
Sirius gave his head a light thump. "It's a present, you don't give presents back. Save it for next time we go into Hogsmeade."
"Which will definitely be on my birthday," James added with a snap of his fingers.
Sirius started to say something else however Lily appeared, looking bright and excited. "Reeeemus!" She flung herself onto the bench between him and Sirius, shoving Sirius aside in order to make room.
"Oi! Watch it, Evans, you could've asked nicely!" Sirius complained as he almost fell off the seat.
"I didn't know you or Potter knew the meaning of asking nicely," she said, then flung her arms around Remus, hugging him tightly right there in front of everyone. "Happy birthday!"
"Ahh—th—thank you!" he squeaked, trying not to blush as he gave her an awkward hug back.
"You're up early…" She settled back, getting a plate. "You lot up to something?"
"Aren't we always?" James joked.
Lily rolled her eyes at him. "Anyway… I know you probably have plans with them most the day, but I was wondering when we could get together?"
"Ooh, er." Remus glanced down at his food, not really sure what the Marauders' plans were. "Perhaps after lunch?"
They both looked at the others—well, James and Sirius—who shrugged, saying they weren't doing much of anything until after supper. So, Remus and Lily agreed to meet in the entrance hall after lunch to spend some time together for his birthday.
"Not like mine though," she teased, standing up.
Remus choked on nothing, watching in horror as she went down the table to join Spinnet and Struthers for breakfast; mostly just Struthers. Why would she say that? Now his friends would be curious. Of course they would be, a thing like that said, they'd be bound to—
James bent in close. "What did you do for her birthday that's got you all red?"
Remus swallowed, quickly grabbing his fork. "We—we t-talked about some personal things, is all."
He looked rather disappointed. "Ah, well."
"Like what?" Sirius asked, not letting that be the end of it.
"Personal things, as in I'm not saying," Remus retorted, nose in the air. "I'm not going to betray her secrets."
"Gotta admit, I am kinda curious what kind've secrets Evans might have," said Peter.
"Pfft, I know her secret," James snorted, pointing his fork at Peter. "She's really a slug in disguise. Watch carefully, she'll leave a slime trail, just like her slimy git of a boyfriend."
"We haven't done anything to him for ages," Sirius pointed out. "I bet he's getting lonely."
"Once we're done with Operation Arsehole Party we should definitely give Snivellus a prezzie or two," snickered James. Then he suddenly gasped. "I have a brilliant idea. Ohhhh!" He began banging his hand against the table, gaining the attention of several nearby students. "Oh! Oh! It's so good, yes! Oh!"
"You going to share or just yell 'oh'?" Peter asked, causing Remus to snicker.
James shook his head. "Okay, I can't give all the details since Remus will say no, but—"
"If it involves Lily then no!" he snapped
James ignored him, "—I have a brilliant plan that also pranks Evans."
"No!" Remus snapped again.
James stared hard at Remus. "Why must you always try to stifle my creativity?"
"Why must you always try to prank one of my best friends?" Remus said right back. "All right, if it isn't very bad… perhaps. However since you're refusing to give me details I get the feeling it is very, very bad."
James bent in, and the others followed suit. "We steal her knickers—"
"NO! Absolutely not!"
James gave a whiny sound. "Can I please finish? We steal her knickers, put'em in Snape's room, take a picture, and send it to her. Without any evidence attached. You know, make her think he somehow got'em."
"No, no, that is a NO! No! That is—no! No!"
Sirius nudged him. "Calm down a little, Remy."
Remus shook his head wildly, furious at James's 'brilliant' plan. "I don't ask for much, but can one of my birthday presents be you not stealing Lily's… under… things?"
"If you can say 'Lily's knickers' then we won't do it," James said.
Remus went brilliantly red. "Th—wh—w-what?! Y-you—wow, th-that—All right, you're being very rude this morning and I do not appreciate it."
"I'm with you, I don't think it's a good plan," Peter said, and Remus thanked him. "Cause I don't really know her real well but I don't think she'd think it was Snape anyway."
"No," Remus added, "I don't think she would either. He would deny it—honestly—and I think she'd believe him. I don't know who she would blame, but she wouldn't be angry at him."
James threw his hands in the air. "Fine, fine, no knickers. Okay, how about we steal Snape's—okay not even gonna finish that or I will throw up."
"I think we all would," moaned Sirius, clutching his stomach.
"Yeah, I think I lost my appetite," mumbled Peter, poking at his food a little miserably.
James dropped the subject of Snape and the four instead discussed the upcoming Gryffindor game. Remus promised to be there as much as he could, but reminded James if it ran on too long he would have to leave. He also swore he'd be the one sick this time instead of his mother so they would be able to visit, which made them happy.
Then Sirius casually asked if Remus was spending any time with Aegis that day, for his birthday. Remus shook his head, admitting Aegis didn't know when Remus's birthday was. Nor did Remus know when Aegis's birthday was. Sirius shrugged, not saying anything else on the matter though seeming a bit pleased.
Since it was a fairly decent day out, the four wound up sneaking into the Forbidden Forest to spend some time at Fort Dragon, though they mostly chattered about various things and kicked at the ground. Remus worked on his yarn spell, which wasn't going too well.
It's for adults so I shouldn't be too distressed I can't get it yet, he thought when they finally left to return to the castle for lunch. Still… it was an exciting spell and he hoped to get it down soon. Not having to worry about buying as much yarn would be great!
After lunch, Remus told the Marauders farewell before going with Lily to sit outside. They chose a nice rock overlooking the lake and ate the biscuits Lily had gotten from the kitchen; she apologized for not baking them herself, but Remus didn't care. If Peter hadn't been in Saint Mungo's they probably wouldn't have baked him anything anyway.
Once the last biscuit was gone, Lily wiped her hands off and handed him a present that was definitely a book. He accepted it, a little awkwardly.
"Okay," she said before he opened it. "I don't know if you'll like it, and if you don't I'll take it back I promise. I won't be upset or anything. You probably already have something like it."
"I'm sure I'll love it—" he started.
Lily shook her head. "No, don't say that please. Wait till you open it and please be honest, I won't mind."
Curious now, he ripped the paper off ato reveal a prettily bound hardback of Welsh fairy tales and mythology. Muggle fairy tales and mythology! "Oh!" He opened it up and began flipping through, very excited. "This is so neat! This is Muggle, right?"
"Uh-huh…" Lily was chewing at the end of one of her braids. "You probably have something like that though, don't you?"
"Um, not—not really. We have a few fairy tale type books at home which belong to my parents, but nothing this extensive, and only a couple of them are Muggle. This is so cool! I know a lot of the stories, of course, but I don't have my own copy of any of them. Thank you!"
"R—really?"
He set the book down so he could hug her tightly. Not too tightly though. "Yes, it's wonderful! I love it!"
Lily beamed, hugging back. "I'm so glad you like it! I was worried it might be a bit silly…"
"No, no, it's perfect." He picked it back up, flipping through, gazing at the illustrations. "I really like that it's Muggle too, I don't know how alike some of the things might be—well, the Mythology is the same I think—so it will be fun to compare their fairy tales to some of the wizarding fairy tales I grew up with… oh! Muggles have Gwyllgi too!"
"Do what now?"
"Gwyllgi," he said.
"I have no idea what…" She peered at the small section. "That's how it's pronounced?!"
Remus couldn't help but giggle. "Yes. Gwyllgi. I had no idea Muggles knew anything about it. That is fascinating…" It didn't take him long to get deep into the book, forgetting entirely Lily was there until she cleared her throat a few times. "Oh, er, sorry! I… ahhh, sorry."
She leaned against him, her arm warm against his. "It's all right, I'm very happy you like it. I was scared it'd be boring."
He shut the book with a snap. "I highly doubt any book you could get me would be boring. Most books I own are old, use copies anyway so if it's something I already have I probably wouldn't mind an upgrade. Er, except for a couple of books that have sentimental value behind them however it would still be nice to have newer copies to read, and the sentimental ones to keep. I'm babbling. I'm sorry."
She slid her arm through his, squeezing. "I don't mind when you talk," she said, resting her head on his shoulder. "Happy birthday."
He squeezed her arm back. "Thank you so much."
"That's all I have for you…" she said slowly, and he was about to say it was more than he'd ever expected, but she quickly added, "Unless you'd like another kiss." Then she burst into laughter as he turned brilliantly red, spluttering out incomprehensible words as fear and panic consumed his entire body. She fell over, clutching her sides as she wheezed.
"LILY EVANS!"
"I'M SORRRRRYYYY!" she squealed, rolling back and forth. "Your FACE! HAHA! THAT WAS PERFECT! EeeEEEEK!" She tried to roll out of the way as he threw a dirt clod at her, but of course missed due to his terrible aim. "Awww, I'm sorry! I am! Mostly."
"Uh-huh!" He gave a sniffle, pretending to be annoyed but unable to keep it up for long. "You're wicked."
"A bit, but you're one to talk," she teased, brushing the grass and dirt off her trousers as she sat back up. "You four haven't been doing much lately. I expect you're planning something really big."
"Er…" They were, but only for the three Hufflepuff boys. "Would you believe it if I said we weren't?"
"No."
"Ah, well. We aren't."
She snorted, knocking lightly against him. "Some of the pranks are pretty funny though. But some are just kind've… mean." Remus remained silent, picking bits of grass off his own trousers, unable to really defend or argue. It was true. "I am glad Cassie is over what happened last month. I mean, what she did to us was awful. But I'm glad she didn't stay fighting with Black for long. Ooh, I wonder if they've kissed again. She said she spent a lot of time with him last night."
Did they? he wondered, laying back on the cold ground to watch the clouds go by. Lily lay down too, their heads close together.
"She's gone back to talking nonstop about him though, which is annoying," Lily continued, lifting her hands up to study them against the sky. "That was one nice thing when they were fighting. She was moping, but at least she wasn't going on about how amazing he is all the time! All right, he does look good, but that doesn't mean she has to say so every hour, right? And if I hear one more word about his hair…!" She gave a disgusted sound.
"He does have nice hair though," Remus said quietly.
Lily didn't say anything for several seconds and then she propped herself up on her elbows, looking down at Remus. He realized what he said, and the fact he probably should not have said it.
"That is besides the point!" Lily finally complained. "He does, but how anyone can spend so much time thinking about it is beyond me."
Remus swallowed, feeling rather guilty as if she could somehow know that Remus occasionally thought about how nice Sirius's hair was. Not that often, naturally. Only once or twice. Sometimes. That probably didn't count, right?
"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm going on about this when you probably don't even care about it."
"If you care about it, I care too," he said.
She flopped back, her braids falling across Remus's hair with how close their heads were now. "Same for you. I mean, if there's anything you want to talk about and worry I might not care or be interested, I—I'm always happy to listen, I promise."
He felt her hand searching so stretched his out until their fingers met and linked together. Unfortunately instead of it feeling nice, all he could think about was Sirius's hand around his the night before. How could it feel so different? They were hands! Why did Sirius's hand around his make him feel so—so—so confused and wobbly and hot, whereas Lily's just felt comforting and pleasant? He thought he could hold Lily's hand forever, but if he held Sirius's hand for too long he'd probably burn up into ashes. Which made zero sense whatsoever, and he hated it.
For a split second he considered talking to her about his feelings. His confusion. All the strange ways his body reacted when around Sirius, or Professor Prewett. Then he squashed that down as quickly as he could, knowing it would be disastrous to even hint at such a thing. He couldn't have anyone think he might sorta be like that, especially since he wasn't like that at all.
Eventually, (after ages talking, not about feelings) the chilliness drove them back into the castle where they sat near the Gryffindor fireplace to warm up. There weren't many students around, so they were able to squeeze into a large armchair together fairly close to the fireplace. They spent the next hour pouring through the book she had gotten him while he pointed out various differences between the Muggle stories and the wizarding ones he had grown up with.
At around three a prefect came to get him, informing him that an older Hufflepuff needed to speak with him about something. Immediately his brain jumped to Operation Arsehole Party, and he was absolutely terrified.
"Wh—who?"
"I don't know," the prefect sighed. "She works in the owlery."
Oh! He quickly got up, promising Lily he'd be back as soon as possible. He had to run up to the dorm to get the galleons, and ran back down, falling out of the entrance hole when he tried to leave.
The owlery volunteer gave a slight snicker which Remus chose to ignore. "H—hi, is—is—is—"
"The veterinarian is here," she said. "Well, will be here in about an hour."
Didn't need to run, then. "Do I j-just meet them in—in the tower?"
"Yes, a few other students will be there too," she said.
Remus climbed back into the common room (not falling this time, thankfully) and went back to Lily, explaining to her what was going on. Her hands flew to her mouth as he spoke and as soon as he was done she asked if Arthur was going to be all right.
"I d-d-don't know," he admitted, pulling his feet up onto the chair so he could wrap his arms around his knees. His comfort position, he supposed. It made him feel safer, making himself smaller. "I hope so."
"Do you want me to come with you?"
"I—if you w-want, but the others might want to. If they come back before four. I mean, I wouldn't mind if you were all there. If you wanted to. it—oh. I'm—er, you know what I mean."
Lily put an arm around him. "I know what you mean."
The Marauders were still missing at fifteen till four so Lily accompanied Remus up to the owlery. His hands were shaking a bit by the time he got there, and he felt his nose burning. He hoped if it was bad news he wouldn't simply burst into tears. But he doubted he'd be able to keep himself calm.
The vet introduced himself to the four students, and said he would look at Arthur first, since Remus was the reason he had been summoned in the first place. The other three students left while Remus whistled for Arthur. Arthur stirred in his nest and tried to fly—
And crashed to the ground.
Remus gave a cry of fear, running over to pick him up. "Arthur?!" Tears began welling up in his eyes already. Arthur gave a rather feeble hoot, and tried to nibble on Remus's finger in reassurance.
"Let me see'im," the vet said, and Remus carefully gave him to the vet.
The next fifteen minutes were agony. Remus clutched Lily's hand while the vet examined Arthur carefully and did multiple diagnosis spells. He even drew a little bit of Arthur's blood, doing some spells on that. Finally he removed his gloves, turning to face Remus with such a grim expression that Remus's heart dropped through the floor. Through the entire castle.
"He'll be all right."
Remus swayed, nearly falling over; he might have fallen over if Lily wasn't there. "Wh—what?"
"You said he's around twenty-six? He'll be all right." The vet nodded, pulling a pad of paper out of his pocket. "He's just a bit weak is all, nothing to worry about. He's still got a good couple of years left in him." The vet scribbled some stuff down, handing the paper to Remus. "What you'll need to do is give him a dilution of strengthening potion, the combination amount is written down. The first four weeks you'll need to do three drops twice a day, three days a week. I suggest starting today and doing Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday. After the four weeks drop it down to two drops once a day, every three days. He should be right as rain by the time your Easter holidays are over. Don't work him for the first four weeks, and after that only close flights. Within the school or Hogsmeade, understand? After the last of the medication he should be up for regular flights but only with light letters, no packages."
Remus clutched the piece of paper, feeling dizzy. "Ah—ah, y-yes. Yes, sir."
"I've got a vial of strengthening solution here…" The vet pulled a vial out. "This should last you the eight weeks. Or if you know someone who can make a potion perfectly, you can have them make it."
Remus frowned. Lily and James were both terrific at potions however he didn't want to assume they'd help out, so he agreed to buy it—depending on the price. It wound up costing twelve sickles while the visit cost three galleons and two sickles. The vet handed three sickles back… or tried to.
Remus had no clue what to do. He regretted not trying to find the Marauders since he could easily say something about Sirius taking the change since it was his or something. He couldn't really ask Lily!
He had to take a risk. A big risk.
The jumper he was wearing was kinda big on him and the sleeves went past his hands. When he moved his arm he slid his hand a little into the sleeve so only the very tips of his fingers poked out as he stretched his hand out for the change. His gut clenched tightly as the three sickles dropped down. Their heat radiated through the wool… but he remained unharmed. He quickly jammed them down in his pocket, feeling them through the denim. Sickles weren't technically silver all the way through—just as galleons weren't gold all the way through. However, they were coated in silver; pure enough that he could certainly feel them.
"Th—thank you." He took Arthur back to his nest and put three drops of the solution carefully on a treat. Arthur snapped it up before nuzzling against Remus's face. "Love you," he whispered, stroking Arthur. "I hope this helps. Please be okay." Arthur hooted, biting the tip of Remus's nose very gently. Remus smiled and left with Lily, hoping desperately the vet was right and everything would be okay.
/\/\/\/\/\
The Marauders were quite distressed when Remus informed him the vet had seen Arthur, as they had wanted to be there. But they were glad Arthur would be all right. They apologized for being away and Remus said it was fine, though admitted he was curious what pranks they had pulled.
"Messed with Snivellus," James said quietly. "Broke into his dorm. Sprinkled bulbadox powder into his sock drawer."
Remus closed his eyes tightly, resisting the urge to yell at them. It was pointless, really. Besides. They had already done it anyway. Plus a tiny part of him felt Snape deserved it after what Snape did to Remus over the whole kissing Lily rumor on Valentine's.
After they all ate, Remus was dragged to the mirror passage on the fourth floor. He protested immediately, stating he was NOT sneaking into Hogsmeade! They promised they weren't planning on it. Sirius had thought the room beyond the mirror would be a great place to hang out and celebrate without their dormmates interrupting.
"Less risk of being caught than if we used an unused classroom," James added as the mirror swung open.
The celebration was much like Sirius and Peter's. There was music, board games, card games, and sweets. There was a cake and instead of candles the three others lit their wands while they sang, and Remus pretended to blow the wands out.
"Nox!" they chorused, with much laughter. They could have gotten candles this time, but it was obvious this was now going to be a Marauder tradition.
Then after eating the cake there was, of course, presents.
"Before we do that, though… I had some change left over from the vet. Sickles. I—I can't use them so one of you can have them. Sirius, it was yours…"
Sirius frowned. "I suppose."
"They're in my pocket."
That, for some reason, made Sirius hesitate. "Your… pocket? You want me to reach in and get them?"
It was Remus's turn to frown. "I don't want to risk touching them. It felt too close a call with my jumper sleeve."
"Er, right—yeah. All right." Sirius reached into Remus's pocket which felt incredibly odd. Also upsetting. And hot. And confusing. And wobbly. All those stupid things he had been thinking earlier. Suddenly he one hundred percent regretted asking Sirius, wishing he had asked James or Petey. But then Sirius pulled the sickles out, putting them in his own pocket. Sirius seemed rather upset too, which made the whole thing worse.
"Um—th-thanks…" Remus squirmed a bit, regretting everything. He should have waited till he took his jeans off at night and dumped them out. That would have been the smarter move. Why hadn't he thought of it sooner?!
Now that he was feeling incredibly awkward, it was time for presents. He hoped he wasn't too noticeably red as several packages were dumped in front of him with three eager faces watching. He ducked his head, knowing he was blushing but he could pass it off from embarrassment over the presents.
"Whoa! Pete, when did you take this picture?"
It was a framed photo of Remus and Lily sitting on one of the common room sofas together, obviously enjoying a good conversation.
"Last month," Peter said, toeing the ground.
"It's wonderful! Thank you! It's so good! Did you do something to the colors?"
"Yeah, um, I made the whole thing look—look warmer, I guess is the best way to say it," Peter explained, sounding both excited and nervous at the same time. "You really like it?"
"I love it! You're really good."
There were also some sweets from Peter, a small bottle of ink, and a bottle of cherry soda. Remus thanked him again, very excited to show Lily the picture. Also, he didn't look quite so sickly in the photo. He supposed it had something to do with the warmer thing. It was rather nice seeing his skin not look like he was on the verge of death.
Sirius went next since James insisted on going last. "There better not be much in here," Remus threatened.
"What are you going to do if there is?" Sirius retorted with a deplorably smug expression he must have learned from James.
Remus thought about this as he peeled the paper back. "Put something in your shampoo," he finally answered, and Sirius stuck his tongue out.
Sirius's presents were three hand-drawn bookmarks, sweets, and a small box which contained a very nice looking quill and bottle of ink.
"I know you wanted a new quill so I hope that one is all right," Sirius said, rubbing the back of his head.
"How—how in Merlin's name did you know I wanted a quill?!" Remus asked, knowing perfectly well he never said anything. A stab of fear went through him at the idea Sirius was a Legilimens. He couldn't be. Fawley would have noticed. Right?
"You frown at your quill a lot," Sirius explained. "I guess I could have been wrong but I assumed…"
"No. I mean, I—yes. My quill I use isn't… yes, I wanted a new one," he finally settled on. It still confused him on how on earth Sirius could figure that out. Did he really frown at his quill a lot? How did Sirius notice?!
"MY TURN!" James began jumping up and down. "Wait just you WAIT! Remus you're going to LOVE ME!"
Remus laughed as he opened his final present. There was a package with three bottles of ink (how did they all know? Did Sirius figure out he was low on ink somehow too?), a really lovely scarlet notebook with the word Marauders imprinted on the front in gold leaf, a pair of socks with a book pattern on them, two skeins of yarn that subtly changed various hues of red, and of course some sweets. "I love all my presents. I really do, they—"
"HHHYAAAA!" James shoved another present at him. "One more!"
"James, are you all right?"
"NO! OPEN!"
Remus sighed, tearing the paper off what he knew was a book. It was Ariadne Quillers newest book! A brand new hardback copy! "Wow, thank you!"
James flailed around. "OPEN! OPEN!"
"I did open the—"
"THE BOOK!" James screeched.
Remus opened the cover, staring in absolute disbelief at what was scrawled on the title page.
For Remus, Hope you like this one! Ariadne~
James was jumping again, punching the air. "YES! HIS FACE! YES! HA! HA!"
Sirius and Peter were both shrieking too, laughing. Remus was dimly aware Peter had taken a photograph.
"How—how—how—" was the only thing Remus managed to get out.
"MY GREAT-AUNT KNOWS HER!" James yelled. "Sorta! My great-aunt knows her grandmother! That is your favorite writer, right? Oh shit, did I mess up?"
"No! I mean—she is! She—she is," Remus somehow got out, still shaken up by the book. "She definitely is. Th—thank you. Wow. Oh wow, yes, thank you! Thank you all! Honestly, this is… more than… more than I could ever… and—and thank you. Holy hippogriffs! This is—oh my God."
James was still punching the air victoriously while Peter hugged Remus, and Sirius messed up Remus's hair. Even with all the excitement over the book, the celebration seemed a little lower key than Peter's had which was exactly what Remus wanted. Actually, it was still a bit much in his opinion.
Remus made sure to thank them all again, making it clear he loved everything! Yes the signed book was awesome (very awesome) but everything was beyond wonderful. The photo was probably the best photograph of himself Remus had ever seen, and the bookmarks from Sirius were absolutely gorgeous.
After some dessert, more games, more music, and more laughter, they finally went back to their dorm about an hour after curfew. They snuck cautiously through secret corridors with Remus keeping an ear out, managing to get to the Gryffindor tower safely. Then, James snuck Remus right back out under the invisibility cloak after he realized he needed to give Arthur his evening drops. He realized that he might need to ask McGonagall for a permission slip, in case something like this happened again.
It was very late by the time Remus went to bed. He crawled between his sheets feeling exhausted, but very happy and unable to believe he was lucky enough to have such amazing friends.
