Sirius was already awake, skimming over the Daily Prophet, when Remus awoke the next morning.
"I saw that." Remus mumbled, voice torn to a whisper from all the shouting and drinking he had done the night before. But God, did it feel good.
"What?" Sirius asked, hoping that his friend hadn't noticed how far he had jumped when he had broken the silence.
"You tucked a pair of reading glasses into your robes." Smiled Remus, pouring himself some of the warmed-over tea and sitting at the bay window, glaring at the garden that was in need of a serious de-gnoming. Sirius just laughed, pulling out the glasses once again and continuing with the paper.
"You've missed an owl from Dumbledore. He said that the others would be here this afternoon." Sirius said in between quoting to Remus the more amusing personals in the paper. "Listen to this: 'Glamour spells and witchy makeovers available. Owl Mathilda McGirk for appointments. Discretion assured.' Now why on earth would you need discretion to go get your face made up?" Sirius asked, handing Remus a plate of sausage and eggs he had been supervising in the kitchen.
"Well," Remus answered, after closely scrutinizing the plate and making sure that there was no trace of Belch Powder Sirius often used to spice up his culinary creations, "Mathilda McGirk, if I'm not mistaken, is a hag. And I don't think a woman would make much of an impression if word got out that she had to go to Madame McGirk for beauty tips."
Things continued along these lines, as if neither man could bare to bring back the tension of last night, until Remus thought of how very little he had learned in his haste to get the one answer.
"Sirius, who died? At the tournament?"
"I think it was Diggory," Sirius answered, folding up the paper and tossing it onto the coffee table.
"Yes, Cedric would have made for an excellent Hogwarts Champion." Sighed Remus, remembering the bright young man that, to many, had been the pride of Hufflepuff.
"I keep forgetting that you were a professor." Mused Sirius. "What was that like?"
Again, Remus sighed. "I loved it, Sirius. Apart from having a job and a decent place to stay…it was Hogwarts again. You know how it is, being there. Like everything is safe and calm. Of course, it's tainted now. Couldn't walk down the hall without remembering everything. Everyone." Remus paused, thinking back to how his heart had leapt into his throat every time he caught a glimpse of Harry out of the corner of his eye. The hope that, just once, it would be James standing there. But then, having Harry there was nearly just as good. Nearly. "And I really loved teaching. I think it was the first time that I felt like I was worth anything."
"Harry swears that you were the best teacher he ever had." Smiled Sirius, deciding not to list the many somethings that Remus Lupin was worth. Then his face darkened, remembering why his friend no longer had that life. "What about the grease ball? What was he like?"
"Who Severus?" Asked Remus, pretending like there could have been some other 'grease ball' at the school.
"Don't call him that," Sirius answered. "His name is Snape and it is to either be spit out, sneered, or growled."
"Well, I've always called him Severus, even back when we were students." Reminded Remus.
"And I always told you not to call him that, but I see you haven't learned."
"Well, to answer your original question, I was very grateful to have him there."
Sirius nearly choked. "What?! Are you daft? He's the slime that got you sacked!"
"He didn't get me 'sacked'. I resigned, and I'm not daft. The man made me Wolfsbane before every full moon, and you know that that potion takes a lot of talent and time."
"He only did it because Dumbledore made him." Sirius muttered. "And you wouldn't have had to resign if Snape hadn't told."
"And I wouldn't have had to resign if I wasn't a werewolf, but some things we can't change." Answered Remus.
"The man tried to sic the Dementors on me, you know," Growled Sirius.
"And for that, I'll dislike him for your sake. But he's not the only man that's ever rushed to conclusions, so give him some slack, won't you? You'll be seeing a lot more of him now than ever, I'm afraid. And you must admit that his is a task ten times more dangerous than ours."
"If you love him so much, why don't you marry him?" Frowned Sirius, a sign that the argument was won and not by him.
"Now that's mature." Smiled Remus, rising to clear the dishes. "There was something else I was going to ask you, but now I've forgotten." He continued after washing the dishes by hand, oddly too lazy to fetch his wand from the other room.
"And here I thought that you remember everything," Sirius muttered. "Was it something I mentioned last night?" He ventured, hoping that it wasn't because, really, none of the matters broached the night before were fit for a lovely morning just made for Quidditch or flying motorbikes or walking down to the lake. Then again, Sirius couldn't think of any day fit for taking about some of those things.
"It might have been. But I imagine it couldn't have been that important seeing as it's totally slipped my mind. Is there anything you'd like to do before the others get here?"
"You mean you're going to let me leave the house?" Sirius answered in mock surprise. "With Dementors roaming the country and my face plastered across Wanted posters from here to Timbuktu?"
"I hardly think that you're one of the top priorities for the peoples of Timbuktu, Sirius. But it's nice to see that your ego hasn't suffered one bit over the years." Smirked Remus, earning a rather hard, if endearing, slap on the back of the head from his companion. "Ow. Thank you, appreciate it." Answered Remus, as he ran his hand through his hair.
"You've gone rather gray, haven't you?" Sirius noticed, brows furrowed at something maybe lost youth, maybe forced age, maybe the simple passing of time.
"Very tactful," Pouted Remus, pulling a wounded face but honestly not caring either way. It wasn't as if he had someone to keep up appearances for. He barely looked himself in the mirror. "it's the stress from having a friend like you."
"Well," Sirius continued, not wanting to dwell on how accurate that statement was, "I'd like to head down to the lake. I haven't had a decent swim in ages, apart from trudging through puddles in that monsoon we had here last month."
"Here? How long have you actually been in England?" Remus asked, having assumed that Sirius had spent most of his year abroad.
"Since October," Sirius answered. "Harry's scar was hurting," He explained.
"Why didn't you come see me?" Remus asked a little upset that he hadn't even known his best friend had been in the country for nine months, and that he couldn't even be bothered to write.
"For one thing, I actually didn't know where you were staying, you moved around so bloody much. But apart from that, I don't know if I'd have taken the risk of straying too far from Hogwarts, with everything that was going on. And you know, I spent one night in jail." Added Sirius, hoping to draw attention away from the fact that he had simply been too uncomfortable to visit Moony and act like it was old times again.
"What?!" Remus bellowed.
"Muggle police caught me after I broke into a house to Firecall Harry." Sirius shrugged, knowing that if he acted like it was no big deal that Remus would see it as an even bigger deal, which always made for an entertaining lecture.
"And they didn't recognize you?" Remus asked.
"No, didn't even drag me into court since I didn't take anything."
"Well, how nice for you." Remus answered, not sounding sarcastic enough to fit Sirius's expectations.
"Is that it?" He asked. "No yelling and screaming? No threats to have me fixed if I don't behave myself? And I thought you cared!"
"And I thought you cared for the people in your life enough to keep yourself out of prison!" Snapped Remus.
This stopped Black within mid-sentence, and he stared at Lupin. "...Moony, what's all this about?"
"Every night, I would sit here and only worry about your welfare. That's all I did. Even lost sleep over it. If you were me, how would you react if the friend you thought was dead suddenly popped up on your doorstep and said that everything was fine, then added casually that he went to jail?" After the sentence, Remus had to pant for a second or two to regain himself, though never did he once take his eyes off of the animagus in question.
Now, Sirius was stupefied. He was unsure of how to respond, and his lip quivered. Remus wasn't acting like himself, tough Sirius was quite aware that he had gone a little overboard. "Remus, I didn't think---"
"No, you didn't!" Remus shot back.
"Just hear me out…" Sirius started, with a soft voice that showed his shame, and Remus paused, with his mouth open, feeling a bit ashamed of himself, as Sirius did before. "I know you cared. I wasn't thinking…when I said things like that. It was stupid of me. I should have thought things out before telling you, so that it wouldn't have hurt you so much. I'm sorry, truly I am." He put a hand to his heart, and shook his head. "Please, forgive me."
Remus remained silent. This brought back memories of so many times, when he and Sirius had fought during their seven schooling years at Hogwarts. Though they seemed the best of friends, just like everyone else, they had their moments when fighting was all that mattered. Putting a hand to his mouth, he covered it and looked down at the floor, feeling nauseous.
"Moony…?"
His vision swirled, the colors blurring together as they became a mess of nothing but fuzzy images. Putting his other hand to his head, Lupin tried massaging his temples to calm the sense of dizziness, however it didn't pass.
"Moony, what's wrong?" Black reached out with a hand and put it to Lupin's side to prevent him from falling over, though in the process, felt a sticky, liquid substance. Pulling his hand back, he stared at the red blood that stained his fingers and palm. Lupin's blood.
Immediately, Remus was leaning on Sirius' shoulder as he helped him to the bedroom. Lying him down on the bed, Sirius removed his shirt to see a very large, infected gash across his lower right abdomen, which continued across his back. Staring at the wound with horror, Sirius inspected it brushing it lightly with a finger.
Remus winced.
"What the Hell were you doing worrying about me, when you yourself were hiding the fact that you were injured?! Do you think I want a body for a best friend?!"
"I was going to tell you…" Muttered Remus though it was clear that he was in pain.
"What happened?" Sirius ignored Remus' excuse and looked to his friend's eyes rather than the wound itself; which was swollen, and very pink compared to his pallid face.
"At the Werewolf Testimony…Jerald Huntswood was there too. He…tried to get us to leave, but some of the others wouldn't stand for it, determined to fight for the rights of Werewolves. One of them was me."
Black sneered. He knew of Jerald Huntswood. He was the man who started the ministry against Werewolves again, after Cornelius Fudge had taken over. If he were known for anything, it would have been his hatred towards Werewolves. He had spent ten years of his life for killing a known Werewolf when he was in the form of a human, with a silver bullet to the heart. Nodding, his eyes full of worry, he motioned for Lupin to continue if he could.
"He stabbed me. With a silver knife that is. Thought he could accomplish something by killing off the head of the W.A.D. [1] although, I couldn't allow that." Remus smiled in that way he had in the times when the Marauders were alive. For real.
It took a moment for Sirius to react and it was not a good reaction. "What? What did you just say?!"
Lupin nodded his head slightly but coughed blood upon the sheets which he stared at wearily, his gray hair and oldness showing. Black noticed this change and quickly ran into the bathroom, returning with a bowl of water with a cloth, bandage wraps, and a cream.
Dabbing at the wound with the now wet cloth, Sirius continued to look up at Remus' face for a reaction; although, none came. He continued to swab the wound clean, apply the cream, and wrap it with bandages. When he had finished he sat up and looked down at Remus as he laid on top of the bed.
"I'm calling Snape." Though he was concerned enough for Remus' safety, he was forced upon the name of Black to sneer, growl, or mutter the name 'Snape'. And without a further word, he strode from the room towards the fireplace. He obviously was going to firecall Snape at Hogwarts.
"But…" Lupin wanted to protest, but when he had opened his mouth to talk, Black was gone. He sank into the cushions of the bed trying to disappear. Feeling worse than ever, Lupin wanted to throw up all the contents of his earlier meals, which had not been much. His eyes lulled back into his head as the sick feeling increased greatly.
Pointing his wand at the fireplace, Black muttered something to himself before setting it aflame. "Hogwarts!"
Amidst the smoke and flames, the greasy-haired Professor's face appeared, sneering, obviously not in a good mood. "BLACK!" His eyes bulged when he saw the other whose face he saw on his receiver side.
"Shh!" Sirius put a finger to his lips and stared severely at the Potions Master, and his eyes narrowed with disgust. "Just shut your mouth, if there was any other way I wouldn't have called on you. But Remus has been stabbed with a silver knife, and he's not doing too well about it."
"How do I know you weren't the one who did it?" Snape asked in a very sneer tone, though he knew perfectly well from the memories of the four, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, that Sirius Black would never do a thing to hurt Remus J. Lupin.
"You bastard. You know I wouldn't have. So, if you could get something ready, I'm bringing Remus over to Hogwarts---" Sirius was cut short by the loud thud that came from the other room. He saw Snape raise a brow and motioned for him to wait, as he walked back into the bedroom. "Remus?"
When Sirius found him, Remus was sprawled out upon the floor, unconscious. Blood was clearly seen through the bandage wrappings, and the Werewolf was experiencing some convulsions. Running to his side, Sirius lightly shook Remus' shoulders frantically. "Remus! Remus!"
Regaining consciousness, Remus found himself lying in one of the sick beds at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was a bit surprised to find himself back here of all places, however found it quite reassuring. Looking up, he saw Snape beaming over him. Then Sirius pulling him away.
"Excuse me, Snape," He snapped, "But if I was just returning to the conscious world, I wouldn't want to see your face first." And having said that, Black strode over to Lupin's side, who was now fully awake and trying to sit up.
"Easy does it." Black smiled at Lupin as though none of this had ever happened; as if, they were students instead of an ex-professor and escaped convict.
Lupin looked at Black, "Sirius what happened?"
"You fell unconscious just after I firecalled Snape. Lucky I keep a bit of floo powder in my pocket, or else I don't know what we would've done." His smile fell to that of a thin line, his lips pressed together. "You were unconscious for a week, Remus. You even transformed and went a bit berserk, though Snape finally got you to swallow the darn Wolfsbane." Several times after he had stated that, Black prevented himself from gleefully showing Lupin the scratch marks he had received in the squabble.
Rubbing his head, Remus looked to Sirius, then Snape. "A whole week, huh? I really must be getting old…"
"Hn, well don't overwork yourself, Lupin. You've still got a bit of recovering to do, even though your transformation fixed your wound." Snape mused. "I've got a class to teach so if you'll excuse me." Turning upon his heel, he strode from the room rather quickly as if to bring the small reunion to a close.
"Good to have you back, Moony." Smiled Sirius as the two watched Snape leave the Hospital Wing.
"It's good to be back." Answered Remus with a smile of his own. The first real, true smile he had shown in a while…
[1]: W.A.D. aka The Werewolf Association of Democracy. A group of Werewolves who fight against the Ministry of Magic fighting for their rights of a democratic government. Their leader is Edward M. Trotts, who was recently sent into medical attention having nearly been assassinated with a silver bullet that just nearly missed his heart. Remus helped found the association in order to help those less fortunate than himself, who do not know Dumbledore personally.
