Chapter 3: A Good Actor Part 2

Notes: New chapter! Hopefully, more people will read this. Thanks for the reviews!  I know the summary sucks and stuff, so if anyone can think of a better one tell me. This switches to Sirius's point of view for a while, then back to Remus's. This transition is pretty clear, but I will mark it anyways…  As a warning there is a bit of language and also some blood involved, but not above PG-13 as its not graphically described. Enjoy!

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I had been keeping a close eye on Harry all day. He insisted that he was fine, so I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. He swore to us he would say if anything was wrong, but he is stubborn as a mule so I honestly do not know if he will. No one in classes has any idea what happened, all they noticed was that he was a little pale; he said he didn't get sleep. His wrap around his stomach was well hidden, so that no one could see the horrors underneath.

He was still trying really hard not to cough, stifling it under his breath. He kept rubbing his ribcage like he was in pain. Probably from coughing… And none of his friends noticed. Hermione would have, but she wasn't there, she was avoiding them. I decided that perhaps I should talk to her because hiding from any of your fears isn't a good way to handle things. Trust me when I say I learned that the hard way as a child.

"Hullo there Hermione!" I said cheerfully. She looked up, I could tell by the redness in her eyes that she had been crying. She slammed her head down on the table… then gave me a finger. This didn't faze me because Lily had done the same thing time after time to me, but honestly, I swear, sometimes I don't understand why women get so emotional over things. I honestly don't see anything wrong with admitting feelings. "Don't you want to talk?"

She just sat there, and didn't even look up. I started to walk away, figuring that now wasn't the time. Then she looked up at me and said, "Hello Professor Lupin. Yeah, there really isn't anything you can do, but yeah, lets talk."  I hate it when people say there is nothing I can do. It comes up most when I speak of my, er, condition. Hmm, what's the best approach to take on this one? I think I will wait until she talks. Don't push people into things; it only makes them less willing to talk about it. That's how Harry is according to Sirius.

"I am such an idiot, he probably hates me. Either that or he thinks that I am crazy. How am I supposed to face him again?" she asked. This is that fear thing, she was afraid that he would hate her. Before, she was afraid of him dying, so she said it. The only way she will be rid of fear is if she confronts him. Plus I know Harry, and he wouldn't be mad at her, he was looking for her. Yes, this is exactly what I should tell her.

"What you said, is out of fear," I started, and she looked up at me like I was crazy. "You said this because you were afraid to lose him. But you are still scared. You are scared of someone who you love. I know he cares about you to, Hermione. If you never talk to him, he will never know. When I was a kid, people didn't talk to me, out of fear. So I made sure no one else knew, out of fear they wouldn't like me. Don't fall into the fear trap."

She thought about it for a few minutes, she seemed to be examining every word. Then she smiled and said, "Your right, this is stupid. I know he won't hate me, maybe be a bit shocked, but never hate me. So what exactly am I afraid of? I am going to go over there and talk to him." Hermione wiped her eyes off, and walked back over to her usual table and sat down next to Harry. He didn't seem to have any objections, so it meant things were fine. It's amazing how easy some problems are to solve, and how difficult other ones are.

I went to bed pretty early that night, and had a nice dreamless sleep. It was probably the first in a while. I asked Sirius where Harry was; he was in the hospital wing again. Damn it! Sirius was angry at the mention of this, and then he went into why he was in there again.

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I went to the bathroom around 11:30 last night. I was on my way out, and I saw Harry, he didn't look so good. If you didn't know better, you would say that he was on drugs or something. He was looking like he was about ready to pass out, so I put my hand on his shoulder, and started to guide him up the stairs. It took him about a minute to realize someone was there.

"Ah! Oh, hello Sirius," he said, putting on what looking back on it was clearly an act. He suddenly tried to act like he was fine. Probably a little too soon, it was a little fake, so I wasn't just gonna let it go. After all, I am his godfather; he is my responsibility to look after. I know he hates being asked if he is ok, but it was something that I had to ask.

"Ya all right there kiddo?" I asked him in that concerned voice. Yes, I am aware that it sucks, Moony suggests that I practice or something. I think that might not be a bad idea. If this keeps up the way it has been, I will have to use that voice a lot. He gave me that look that told me what he was gonna say. It was gonna be that I swear I am fine speech.

"I swear Sirius, I am fine!" protested Harry. I smiled weekly, thinking that I was dead on. "Honestly, I wish people would stop worrying about me, it is starting to get on my nerves! I was just coming back from the bathroom. Now, I am going to bed, please, stop worrying about me!" Well if he says so. Wait a minute, I was just in the bathroom, and he wasn't there. And he couldn't have left before I got in there because he was only about 10 feet from the bathroom. No one can walk that slowly, not even a turtle.

"Ok, if you're sure. Goodnight Harry." I decided that that was the best way to handle things, let him have his way. Of course, I wasn't just going to walk away from it, I propped myself against the corner of the wall where he couldn't see, and I watched him. He slumped down against the wall and sat there for a while. I knew he wouldn't hide anything when no one was there, so I just continued to watch him for any signs of something wrong.

He started coughing, and then he started really hard. It was almost like he was choking on something. He whimpered in pain and grabbed at his stomach. I didn't know what was happening until it was over. He threw up, but not like when you are sick. Along with it, he coughed up blood. God dammit! Ok, I may not be like Pomfrey or anything but I know that that is serious.

"I swear Sirius, I'm fine!" I said in a half mock half anger way. He obviously knew he wasn't ok, yet he let us all believe it. There are times for being a good actor, but not when it is this serious. I was so mad, but at the moment, yelling wasn't the way to handle it. I examined him closely, he seemed fine on the outside, yet he was still coughing blood up violently. Well, that means… oh fuck. He is bleeding internally, otherwise he wouldn't be coughing up blood.

"Sirius, I'm (cough) sorry… Hospital wing.." he said still coughing up blood. I handed him a handkerchief so he didn't get it all over the place. I led him down to the hospital wing as fast as possible. I think Pomfrey was a bit agitated when I woke her, but when she saw him, she didn't say anything, just whisked him into her office. She had me come with her.

Now it was her turn to mock… "If the child says he's fine, he's fine… Poppycock!  After near death, he can't be fine in a day, but no…" I heard her drone on endlessly about it. I just listened and nodded because she was right. He is just so easy to trust though. She talked all the way through her examination of him, which took a good fifteen minutes.

"It is a good thing you brought him back. He was bleeding internally. He seems to actually be getting better though. I need to keep him tonight. I should be able to release in a day or two. I put a spell on him that fixed the apparent hole in the stomach." She then sent him off to bed, and sent me out of the room. He is still in there, sleeping.

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"So, that is why he is in the hospital," finished Sirius. By that point I was entirely grossed out by the thought of Harry coughing up blood. When I overcame that, I was angry that he hadn't told the truth in the first place. I actually took a leaf out of Sirius's book, and did the impulsive. I barged right in there, ready to yell at him. Uggh, the nerve. Sirius, who was trying to bring me to reason, was actually chasing me, instead of the usual.

"Remus, wait…" started Sirius, but I ignored him. "You can't go in there like Bruce Lee with your fists flying… Moony. Stop. Now." I explained to him that I wasn't going in with my fists flying, just my mouth flapping. He had wanted to do the same thing last night, so he didn't have any objection. I walked in and totally ignored Pomfrey's "he needs rest" protests.

"Harry James Potter!" I bellowed, causing him and everyone else in the room to jump. Never thought I would be the one to do that…

"Look, professor, I…" started Harry, but I cut him short. "What were you thinking? That was dangerous, you nearly died, AGAIN." I could have probably gone on for hours about how irresponsible that was, but there was an interruption. Dumbledore walked in with what seemed to be a report in his hand, he looked very serious again.

"We have found out who caused this damage to Harry.." he started, looking like we had won the battle but lost the war. "Who is it?" that obviously came from Sirius. The man has no patience what so ever. (Or a brain for that matter, but we can get into that at a later date) He took a bit breath and told us. We were in for the shock of our lives.

TBC! Please R/R. The next chapter goes into a new concept.