DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the content referenced/quoted. Warning for swearing.
...
The Prank
Remus comes to slowly. The after effects of a full moon are not unfamiliar to him, but are no less painful.
His head is pounding and the light pierces his eyes as they slit open. He feels broken, bruised, and his whole body aches like someone had grabbed each end of him and stretched him out too far.
"Remus?"
The quiet voice comes from his left, and he turns his head microscopically to see the blurry form of- Stag, the Stag. The scent fills his nostrils, cedar and pine trees, fresh dewy grass and raw earth. The wildfire smell of his magic sits heavily on Remus' tongue along with- something else, something bitter, something- coffee. The Stag smelled of coffee.
But that wasn't right.
"Remus? Are you awake?"
Remus groans. The Stag wasn't the stag anymore, he was bald, hairless with piercing eyes behind a thick set of- glasses. The Stag was-
"James." That was it, James.
James sits on a chair to his left, with a steaming cup of coffee. Remus whines and retracts from the sharp bitter smell. His packmate grimaces, and places the cup down on the bedside table a little farther from Remus.
"Sorry, forgot."
Remus sighs as the scent lessens, allowing other smells and senses to fill the void. He blinks open his eyes to peer at his surroundings; a sharp medicinal smell, the soft puttering of a woman in the distance, the quiet brush of a breeze against plastic curtains. He is in the Hospital Wing, the woman he can hear is Madam Pomfrey. But something wasn't right.
"Where are- where are the others?" Remus croaks, his throat scratchy and sore, "Where is pack?"
James shifts, his face hesitant.
"James?"
"What do you remember from last night, Moony?"
"I-" He hesitates.
The night comes to him in a blur. He remembers the pain, the cracking and remaking of his bones, the edge of moonlight that had filled the scratched and broken floor of the Shrieking Shack. There had been loud screaming, a howling and-
"Even if there are ghosts in there, maybe they're just looking for a friend."
-the scent of oranges.
"Em," he says.
"No. Em wasn't there."
Remus shakes his head stubbornly, he smelt the oranges, sweet and sharp on the breeze, Em had been there. Em had-
Pack had been there. Musky leather and smoke and wet dog and cedar and pine and salt and pumpkin juice and sweets and-
Pack had been there, but there had also been an intruder. They smelt like parchment and ink and - damp.
They hadn't liked that, hadn't liked the intruder, they'd lunged, sharp teeth and jaw snapping to scare off the unknown. No not they, the wolf, not Remus. The wolf had lunged at the intruder and his face had twisted into fear, the intruder had been - Snape.
"Oh Godric."
"Remus," James reaches for him, but he shakes off his hand, a half sob escaping from his chest. He had almost- they had almost- the wolf had almost - "Oh Godric."
"Remus, he's fine, we got him out ok. You didn't hurt anyone," James tries to reassure him.
Remus shakes his head. They had almost killed Snape, what if it had been one of pack, what if it had been Cass or Lily, what if it had been Em-
"Moony-"
"Don't call me that!" Remus shuffles away from James into the smallest corner of his hospital bed. "DON'T CALL ME THAT!"
He knows he is hysterical, that after every full moon his emotions are heightened. But he thought he'd had it under control, he thought he had come to terms with the wolf - how could he have been so stupid.
He buries his face into his knees, his sobs stifling to half-hiccups, tears streaming down his face.
"Just go, James."
"Remus, I-"
"Go," Remus says. "Please."
After a moment, he hears James stand and make his way out of the Hospital Wing, his footsteps echoing through the empty hall until finally he is alone.
He cries. They had thought Em was there, they had thought Em was there and they still lunged. He could have hurt her, they could have hurt pack.
They were a monster. They were better off alone.