Notes: This is a little shorter than the other chapters, but I want to move on to the next year. Besides, it's been forever since I've updated. Please tell me any continuity errors or bad dialogue or misspellings that I have- as I currently have no beta. Thanks!
Page Three: Spring (Or Sleepy Time With Remmie)
If Remus Lupin had one huge fault, it was that he was gullible. But if he had one huge grace, it was that he forgave. By mid-March, he and James were back to being best of pals. And that was why they doubled teamed with Lily and her Ravenclaw friend Fionna in Potions on that rather fateful Tuesday.
"…and so I said that I was sorry and he said he forgave me," James explained coolly. "It was my fault, and his choice to forgive me. Don't be so unaccepting, Finn. Boys don't carry grudges like girls," he added saucily. And, with a rather girlish flounce, James sat down on his stool and began to sort out the ingredients for the sleeping potion they were going to be making that afternoon.
"Well, I still think it was a little too quick." Fionna said, flipping her brown hair over one shoulder. "You should have thought about it a little more, Remus."
"I don't think so," Remus replied with a bit of bite in his voice. Fionna had never been a good friend to him. "I've heard that girls in the Ravenclaw dorms rarely ever speak to each other because they hold so many grudges."
"Now, now, stop fighting, all of you," Lily said briskly, clapping her hands together. "Let's get to work."
Obediently, James and Fionna began to gather the bull's tongue and ladybug eyes while Remus chopped up the ginger root. Lily, the little overseer, checked her copious notes again to make sure they had the right amounts of everything. However, she made one critical mistake that changed the potion entirely. Instead of writing "one tablet of condensed wingleaf powder", she had written "one cup of condensed leafwing powder". That simple mistake caused the entire potion to go awry.
In fact, that changed the brew completely from a simple numbing potion to an extremely potent sleeping draught.
By the time it was finished, Fionna was glaring distastefully at the ugly brownish goop. "Ugh… I am NOT going to be the one who tries that," she said, sniffed and folded her arms importantly. "Besides, I don't need a numbing potion."
"I have Quidditch practice, so I can't try it," James said loftily. "I'd fall off my broom!"
Lily sighed impatiently. "You two are such snobs." Then her eyes brightened and she turned towards Remus. "I guess it's you or me, elf-boy." Ever since someone had mentioned his pointed ears in front of her, she had taken up the nickname "elf-boy" which seemed to amuse the werewolf. "You wanna try it, or should I?"
"I'll do it," Remus offered. "After all, I don't have anything going on this afternoon, and I'm sure you do, Lil. You always have stuff going on." He gave a half smile.
"Well, get drinking. I don't want to be held after class," Fionna snapped.
Lily sighed again. "Finn- don't be such a brat."
Meanwhile, James had dipped a ladle into the solution and had poured a small glass for Remus. "Here you go… and remember- drink it all at once, not with sips. Otherwise, you'll have a horrible headache when the numbness is over."
Remus nodded and lifted the glass to his lips, wincing at the strongly bitter smell that wafted up from it. Then, holding his nose shut with two fingers, he knocked the whole glass back in one gulp. And, since the potion was not made right, he promptly fell over into an unconscious heap.
Warm….. cold! What is that? Ow….
Sleep…. Let me…
So dark… but … oh…. That's nice.
Nice…. Cozy…
Who…?
Light! Where? What?
Remus sat up sharply, a pain rocketing through his stomach. He moaned out loud, his vision blurry, and then closed his eyes again.
"Here, dear," a warm, motherly voice said at his elbow. "If you need to be sick, there's a basin right next to you."
"Nnnn…" Remus leaned over, feeling with his fingers for the bowl. As soon as it was close enough, he bent forward and became violently ill, slitting his eyes open so that he didn't miss and vomit all over himself. When he was finished, he heard a spell being said next to him and the sour taste in his mouth faded to a fresh, cool mint flavor. His stomach relaxed and he leaned back onto the pillows behind him. The basin was removed and he felt comfortably drowsy.
"Hey, Remmie."
"Sirius?" Remus opened his eyes and looked to his left. There, indeed, sat his best friend, a little pale in the face, but with the hints of his usual cocky grin playing around his lips. "What are you doing here?"
"Looking after you." Sirius moved closer and touched his fingertips to Remus' brow. "I turn my back and you get yourself drugged… silly little puppy," he said fondly, brushing his companion's hair back. "Next time, make sure Lily checks her notes."
"It was Lily's fault?" Remus felt warm all the way to his toes at the affectionate nickname. It was one that he hadn't heard before from Sirius, but he knew the moment he heard it that he wanted Sirius to call him that again. Puppy. It didn't sound dangerous or even out of the ordinary. Just… puppy.
"Yeah, she wrote down the wrong ingredients." The dark haired boy shrugged and withdrew his hand. "Good thing it wasn't lethal or she'd be shipped out on the next Azkaban Express."
Remus made a face. "Is there such a thing?"
"I don't know." Sirius laughed. "If there is, Madam Pomphrey will have me on it before you can say 'tiddlywinks.'"
"Why?" A slow smile crept up the werewolf's lips and into his eyes.
"Because she's pissed as hell that I am staying here by your side. She seems to think I'll keep you from getting some normal rest."
"Normal rest?"
"The potion you took was a sleeping draught. But the longer it remained in your system, the harder it would be to wake you up. As it was, it took our dear nurse at least two hours pumping spells and herbs into you-"
"Oh… that doesn't sound like fun."
"Obviously not, 'cause you practically puked up your organs when she woke you up."
"Yeah."
Sirius stood. "Well, I'd probably better let you get some rest."
"It's kind of silly that I have to rest after taking a sleeping potion."
"That's what I thought."
Remus snuggled down into his blankets, tucking them up to his chin. "Well, I'll see you later, then."
"Get better, puppy." Sirius ruffled his friend's hair and then left, his walk almost too casual. Smiling at the dark haired boy's back, Remus lay his head back on the pillows, letting the tension flow from his body like water off the beach. Silly Sirius… it was just like him to hang around like a protective mother… That's how he always got in trouble with Madam Pomphrey. The two of them seemed to think it was their job to be Remus' caretaker. And while Madam Pomphrey really had the more eligible claim, Sirius didn't seem to care.
The last thought that Remus had before drifting off was that if you were talking about behavior, Sirius was really the more puppy-like of the two of them.
~
Lily was actually crying when Remus returned to the Gryffindor common room. James was trying- in vain- to comfort her, while Sirius was making fun of the poor girl and Peter was pointedly ignoring her. The rest of the room's occupants seemed to be following Peter's example, and were busily doing work or chatting about Quidditch.
As soon as Remus entered the room, Lily gave a little cry and ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck. "Oh, Remmie, I'm so sorry! I really didn't mean to take the wrong notes, I didn't! I'm sorry! It's all my fault- you could have been killed!"
Remus turned red. After all, it wasn't every day that pretty girls hung off him, sobbing. "Lil- I'm fine, honest. It was only a sleeping potion. You can't kill me with one of those." He grinned lopsidedly at James who was giving him a rather helpless look from the couch.
"Yeah, don't be such a sissy," Sirius said, offhandedly- which earned him twin glares from his dark haired best friend and the brown haired werewolf. "What?" he asked, innocently.
Remus ignored him and petted Lily awkwardly on the top of her head.
"I'm really sorry," came a muffled voice from Remus' robes.
"It's okay. Honest." All the boy wanted to do was to get away from the common room and curl up to read a nice book. This touching Lily thing was not quite what he had in mind for a quiet evening.
"Okay, break it up, break it up. There are some of us in the room who prefer to keep our dinners in our stomachs." Sirius was suddenly standing next to the pair and frowning. One hand was on Remus' shoulder and the other was tugging Lily away from the werewolf. "Enough sobby emotional crap." When Lily extracted herself from the other boy's body, Sirius crossed his arms. "And you, Remus J- are coming with me."
The hazel eyed boy blinked twice and then, like an obedient puppy, he followed Sirius up the stairs to the dormitories. When they reached the door, Remus was surprised to see Peter already there, and to find James coming up the stairs behind them. "What's up, guys?"
"Actually, we kind of made you a get-well card," James said, nibbling on his thumbnail.
"And it was a little too big to carry to the hospital wing," Peter added.
"So step in!" Sirius crowed, grinning like an idiot. He flung open the door and stepped back so that Remus could get the full experience of their get-well card.
Inside the room, a very large bed sheet was hung between the ends of Peter's and James' beds. Across it was scrawled in Sirius' sloppy writing, "GeT BETTER RemUS!" Underneath, Peter had attempted to draw a wolf howling at a moon, and James had charmed the stars in the sky to twinkle.
"I don't know how to thank you!" Remus said huskily.
"Actually, we were planning on telling you something," James said seriously. He sat down on his bed and gestured to the wolf on the bed sheet. "You see, by himself, that wolf is a little lonely. So… Peter and Sirius and I figured we'd try to help out." He gave a rather awkward cough. "We're going to become Animagi."
"What?" Remus said. Or rather, tried to say. He kind of choked on the word.
Sirius raised an eyebrow.
"We're going to become Animagi." Peter looked pleased with himself. "As animals, we could be around you during the full moon, and you wouldn't be so lonely."
"But…. But…"
"Unregistered, of course," Sirius interjected.
"But- you could die! I'm fine, guys, really. I'm okay by myself." Remus managed a weak smile. "Really, I'm not so bad off. I mean- the Animagus spell takes forever… and … we'd probably be out of school by the time you finished… and…"
"We are going to do it," Sirius said stubbornly. "Don't be such a stubborn bastard, Remus."
"But… I don't…"
Peter put his hand on Remus' arm and looked at him, concerned.
"I don't want you to get hurt," the werewolf finally whispered, bowing his head a little. "I can't stand the thought of you guys getting stuck in animal form, or worse yet, halfway between… or being caught by someone… or… something… just for me. Or what if I did try to kill you even though you were animals?"
"Don't be stupid, Remus," James said suddenly, as if he was coming out of deep thought. "We aren't doing this just for you."
"…."
"Heh…" Sirius grinned roguishly. "We could have sooooo much fun being Animagi. Just think about it. If I could turn into a squirrel at any time I wanted, I go anywhere! Even in the girls' locker room."
"Sirius!" the other boys cried, though they had all been thinking along the same lines.
"So it's settled," James stated. "With or without your approval, Remus- we are going to become Animagi." With a glance at the other two boys, he grinned. "And we start tomorrow."
"At least let me help you with the spellwork!" Remus cried, still concerned.
Peter grinned. "We wouldn't have it any other way."
To be continued…
Notes: Again, if there are any mistakes that you see here, please feel free to inform me in a polite manner. Thank you very much for reading this story!!