THE QUEEN OF MY HEART

Chapter Three: The Day After

Remus dragged himself into Gryffindor tower at dawn. The bright yellow light cascaded into the common room. Various tables and chairs stood deserted. Coals smoldered in the fire place, remnants of a long dead fire.

Remus made his way to his dormitory. Sirius, James, and Peter were asleep in their four-poster beds. As Remus sat on his bed and began to remove his practically shredded robes, he saw someone stirring. James sat up and peered at him through sleepy and blind eyes.

"Remus?" James asked, reaching toward his night stand for his glasses. "Is it morning?"

"Yeah," Remus answered.

James pushed his glasses on to his face and looked at Remus. He looked quite dreadful. He was pale and sickly-looking, with disheveled light brown hair and dark circles under his eyes.

"Looking good," James said sarcastically.

Remus smiled weakly.

"Feeling better?" James asked.

"Quite," was Remus' reply.

"You're a bit bloody, Mooney," James pointed out. "Maybe you should see Madam Epdac. She can fix you up."

"I don't believe they're much," Remus assured, feeling the sore spots for large wounds. "It's mostly just my upper arm."

The arm of which he spoke was quite scratched. A large gash was in the midst of the scratches and the most part of his upper arm was bruised a gross purple-red.

"That has to get looked at," James commanded.

"I suppose you're right," Remus gave in. "If I walk into class all scratched and bruised, people'll get suspicious."

Remus stretched and James removed his glasses.

"Anything interesting happen at the feast?" Remus asked.

"Not really," James replied. "A bunch of new first years. Dumbledore gave a speech. Same old. Same old."

"Still would have been better then what I went through," Remus grumbled.

"You can say that again."

Remus and James smiled at each other. Remus flipped off his shoes and got under his covers. James pulled his blankets up to his chin.

"Did you see Brenda Lee?" Remus asked.

"Yup," James said simply.

"Cool," Remus commented.

"She wants to be exclusive," James went on.

"Weren't you already?" Remus queried, looking over at James.

"I donno," James began, staring at the ceiling. "I guess I might have gone on a date with another girl if I wanted to."

"So, now you're exclusive?" Remus asked.

"I suppose so," James said. "It's not much different. I just need to be careful about flirting with other girls in front of her."

Remus glanced out of the window. The sun was peaking out over the Forbidden Forest. It was probably nearly six o'clock. Breakfast was at Seven-thirty. That didn't give Remus much sleeping time. So he told James that he needed to steal what snoozing time that he could before school actually started. James agreed and they both went back to sleep.

***********

Remus awoke to the rustling sound of people walking around in the room. He opened his eyes and saw James making his bed, Peter rummaging through his trunk, and Sirius looking in the mirror. Remus pulled off his covers.

"Alright there, Mooney?" Sirius asked, combing out his, rather long, dark brown hair.

"Fine," Remus said simply.

"Want us to wait for you, Mooney?" Peter asked in his usual squeaky voice as he pulled a large book from his trunk.

"Nah," Remus replied, sitting up and stretching. "I have to see Madam Epdac."

"Were you biting yourself again?" Sirius accused.

"I can't seem to help it," Remus murmured. "I just get so angry and self-destructive when I'm a werewolf."

"It'll be over soon, Mooney," Peter told him.

"Yeah," James added, "we're getting close with that potion."

"You won't be so angry when we're there beside you," Sirius assured him.

"I hope so," Remus began. "I can't tell you how much this means to me. You guys could seriously get in trouble for this."

"We'd do anything for you, Mooney," Peter whispered.

The four guys silently smiled at each other.

"We'd better head for the Great Hall," James announced.

"Yeah," Remus said, "and I better get to the Hospital Wing."

"Shave first," Sirius advised. "You look like you haven't changed back human all the way."

Remus laughed.

James, Sirius, and Peter left the dorm room. Remus got up, dressed, shaved, and went up to the hospital wing. Madam Epdac gave him a weird look, seeing his many scrapes, cuts, and gashes. She healed as many of the small ones as she could. The large gash on his arm required gauze, specially doused with phoenix tears.

Remus left the hospital wing and headed down to the Great Hall. There was about fifty people left at each table. The rest of the student were studying, unpacking, or wandering around a bit before classes began. Remus walked over to where he saw Peter, James, and Sirius.

"Hey, Mooney," Sirius greeted. "You didn't take my advise, did you?"

"I did so," Remus said offensively, rubbing his chin.

"I'm just bugging with you," Sirius assured him.

"You look better," Peter complimented. "It's much less obvious that you spent the night in the Shrieking Shack."

"Shut it!" Sirius hissed, smacking Peter on the back of his blond head.

"Oh, sorry," Peter whined, flinching.

"Did I hear mention of the Shreaking Shack?" An intrusive voice asked.

Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter jerked their heads to look at a gangly, sneering boy with black hair that was slicked back in a most greasy manner.

"What do you want, Snape?" James demanded.

"Oh, nothing," the boy promised, looking quite insincere. "I just thought I hear something."

"You hear too much," Remus commented.

"Is there something going on that Dumbledore might want to know about?" Snape asked. "I'm sure I could arrange for him to get an anonymous tip."

"There's nothing going on that Dumbledore doesn't already know," Peter shot at him.

"So Dumbledore knows this big secret of yours," Snape assumed.

"We don't know what secret you're talking about," Sirius said.

"I'm sure you do," Snape smiled, touching the tips of his fingers together. "And I am going to find out this secret of yours. I find out everything."

"That's because you're a nosy git," Sirius began, "who needs to wash his hair every once in a while."

"Be careful what you say," Snape growled. "I know people. I know many, many people."

Snape turned around, watching them until his head couldn't turn any father, and walked back over to the Slytherin table. His long flowing robes making him look mysterious as he ambled away.

"That kid really needs to keep his nose out of our business," James commented.

"He might find it out," Peter whined.

"He will if you don't learn to keep your voice down," Sirius snapped, smacking Peter on the back of his head again.

Peter cringed.