Chapter Twenty
You Are Not To Walk Around

Later that day Griemer returned with news to tell Remus. They were going to have to operate again, the next day they would. They were going to cut again into the incision, this time using healers who had been there a long time. They weren't sure about what they were looking for. When they performed the spell to get the werewolf DNA nothing came out, but they assumed they did their job. Griemer asked Remus how he was feeling and Remus said he was having a little trouble breathing. Griemer said that must be what they were looking for (he then cursed the healer that had nearly taken out Remus's lung). Griemer bid Remus a good night, since he was heading home for the night. Remus leaned over his bedside and took out his mirror he got from James.

"James Potter," he said into it. Remus's reflection turned fuzzy and disappeared, being replaced with James's. Sirius was in the background sitting on his bed.

"Hi Moony," James said.

"That Moony, Prongs?" Remus heard Sirius say in the background. James said a quick, "yeah," to Sirius before turning back to Remus.

"What's up?" James asked.

"You guys can't come and visit tomorrow," Remus answered sadly, he'd really been looking forward to having visitors.

"Why not?" James was looking very concerned. Sirius had just walked over and was peering through the mirror with the same expression as James.

"They have to operate again. Since the first operation didn't work they want to see what they did wrong. Maybe the day after tomorrow you can come. I have to go, see you."

"Bye." Remus watched as James's reflection faded. He placed the mirror on the nightstand. Maybe the day after tomorrow... maybe they'll have another operation to put him through. When was this all going to end? When were they going to stop doing this to him? When were things ever going to look up for him? Remus heard a faint knock on his door. He muttered, "come in." His uncle walked in, he was looking for tired and worn out. Well it was pretty late. He sat down at the foot of Remus's bed. Remus never liked when his uncle did this because it usually meant he was in for a lengthy lecture.

"How are you Remus?" he said quietly.

"All right, I guess," Remus answered sleepily.

"Professor McGonagall told me they're giving you another operation." Remus did not say anything. At this point he did not want to speak to his uncle at all. He had no relative feeling for him at all. Apparently his uncle noticed this, "I know you're mad at me."

"What gave you that idea?" Remus answered coldly.

"Because you've never acted like to me before. Remus, I'm worried about you. You've never been like this before."

"You needn't be worried because I'm just fine... at school at least. My friends are good and I'm doing good in class. You see? No need to be worried."

"Yes there is!"

"Nope. Please, just leave me alone." His uncle gave him a very stern glance before standing up and exiting the room. Why does he worry so much? Remus thought, there's nothing wrong with me and yet they think there is, pretty soon they'll make me go and see a shrink.

The next day was possibly the most painful day Remus ever experienced. First off, Griemer did not numb the pain at all. They just put Remus to sleep and when they cut into him he woke up screaming bloody murder. It took nearly a half hour to calm him down again and put him back to sleep. The healers had to perform come spells on his lungs (thanks to the genius healer who had nearly closed all Remus's air paths) before calling the operation over. When it was all over Remus felt like he had been through ten full moons all at once. He was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open.

But there was good news. Griemer came back three hours later and told him that he needed no more operations, this time they were certain everything had gone as it was supposed to. Remus felt a rush of relief zoom over him.

Remus was lying in a dark hospital room; this was the third day he had been in St. Mungo's. Griemer estimated that he would be there until February, something Remus was not happy with. Leaning against the headboard Remus stared straight at the wall ahead of him. He was concentrating hard on the dream he had. He dreamt he was back out in that field they had put him in to test the operations results. He was standing there, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet twisting the bottom of his shirt and looking up at the sky.

It was cloudy and dark, rain was splattering on the ground and mud was splashing on his shoes. He kept staring avidly at the darkening sky, waiting for the clouds to shift so the moon was clear to him. There was a swift breeze and the clouds slowly shifted, revealing a golden, full moon. The dream Remus waited for the horrible jolt of pain he had felt so many times before. He knew that at any moment there would be a painful lurch in the lower region of his stomach, he would fall forward and start crying out in pain. The Dream Remus knew that at any second his bones would grow painfully larger, his arms would become front legs, his hands paws, his legs hind legs and his feet paws as well. He knew that his ears and nose would grow fur and enlarge themselves, his dark brown eyes would turn a ferocious green and the whites of his eyes would turn a gleaming yellow.

Dream Remus began tapping his foot impatiently in the mud; he folded his arms across his chest and continued to gaze up at the moon. He looked over towards the hospital building and watched the healers as they peered through their ominoculars at him. Three dream minutes later Dream Griemer came running towards him with a broad smile on his face. He stopped in front of Dream Remus, knelt down and said (barely able to contain his joy), "its worked Remus! You're not a werewolf!" Just as Remus was about to shout for joy he felt a piercing pain and he woke up yelling as the healers sliced into him. He realised it had only been a dream... and a happy dream.

He had liked that dream... why would he not like it? He stretched his legs out and lifted himself further up the headboard, since he was slowly slipping down. He had another dream once the healers had put him back to sleep. It was a very strange and abnormal one, which he was sure Sirius and James would love! It had been that the three of them were in the Great Hall back at Hogwarts (Peter was nowhere around) and it started out normal enough. They were sitting at the Gryffindor table, eating their lunch it looked like. James and Sirius were discussing with Remus all their ways to torture Snape when out of nowhere the Great Hall doors burst open and Snape came in singing! Remus and James burst out hysterically laughing and pounding their fists on the table. Sirius, on the other hand, ducked under the table. He popped up a second later holding a top hat and a curved cane.

Remus recognised the song Snape was singing. It was something from a muggle movie... it sounded like the song, "Hook's Waltz." Sirius jumped in and started singing in a high-pitched girly voice. James and Remus were now blinded by tears and just as the rest of the hall joined in with Snape and Sirius... Remus woke up.

Remus grinned thinking about what it was like to see Sirius and Snape singing and dancing. He was not sure if that would give him nightmares or a month worth of hilarious dreams involving Snape making a fool out of himself. Remus did not feel tired at all so he did not want to go to sleep, even though it was well past midnight. He had been sleeping the entire day so he was wide-awake, he was thinking of something to do. Then he thought of something... he had always wanted to explore this place... maybe find out where they kept his test results, those would tell him exactly how long he would be there and what was wrong with him.

Remus lifted himself up out of his bed and walked very quietly to the door. He grabbed the knob and turned it inaudibly, opened the door slowly so it would not creak and stepped out into the hallway. He looked to the left then to the right to make sure no healers were walking around. He highly doubted this though, he bet they all went home for the night. Remus turned to his right, because the left led to the lobby and he knew that the receptionist would be there. He looked at all the portraits hanging on the walls. All of them were happily snoozing and from time to time they would emit loud snores and shift in their portraits. He made his way up to the floor where they kept patients with serious bites.

He walked along that corridor for about five minutes before he passed a room with an open door. The occupant inside was awake and looked towards the door upon hearing Remus's footsteps.

"What are you doing awake boy?" he asked sternly. Remus turned to look at him, but said nothing. The man had a bushy gray beard, large thick eyebrows, a small nose and was bald. He looked very tired and worn out, Remus wondered what he was here for. "Come here boy." Remus hesitated. "It's all right, I won't hurt you." Feeling slightly, but not a lot, better, Remus walked into the room. He noticed that this man was the only person in the room, much like Remus was in his.

"What's your name boy?" the man asked.

"Oh...Remus Lupin," Remus answered uncertainly. "What's yours?"

"Jack Bormier," the man answered. "What are you here for?" This man asks a lot of questions, Remus thought to himself.

"For an operation," Remus answered. "Why are you here?"

"Got bitten by a blasted werewolf! Stupid thing snuck up on me in the middle of the night! Bit me in the leg! I tell you... I've always hated werewolves and now look at me!" Remus felt a feeling of anger in the pit of his stomach. But this man did not know what Remus was, but he still should not speak like that.

"I'm a werewolf!" Remus blurted out. The man frowned and turned a deep red in his face. Obviously he was embarrassed because he should have considered whom he might be talking to.

"Oh... well... sorry... I didn't know," he said apologetically.

"Well next time make sure you know who you're talking to."

"Well tell me Remus, have you just been bitten?"

"No, actually it was four years ago."

"Would you mind telling me about it?" Remus shuffled his feet around and nodded. He always hated telling people about this. It was not exactly one of his favourite topics. But he took a deep breath and began launching into his tale. He told him how he had been in the woods looking for something when he heard the low growls behind him. He said how the wolf bared down on him and sunk its sharp fangs into him. He said that the full moons he experienced had been the most horrible pain he's ever felt!

"But why are you here?" the man asked once Remus had finished talking.

"Because the people here thought they could cure me... but they couldn't. So now I've got to stay here until they let me go back to school." The man nodded. Remus stifled a yawn and then they heard footsteps coming from down the hall. Darn, Remus thought, I thought they were all gone! Remus said goodnight to the man and he hopes he feels better. He ran as fast as he could (he felt rather weak and was short of breath) out the door. He was almost at his door when he heard Griemer's voice behind him.

"Remus!" he was calling. Remus tried running the rest of the way to his room but he felt very dizzy. He swayed on the spot and collapsed to the ground.

Remus woke several hours later to find himself back inside his hospital room. This time, however, he was lying on a hard bed with a plastic nosepiece that covered his entire nose. It had a long tube that hooked around the end of a wand that was standing upright on the nightstand next to Remus. Remus still felt lightheaded and was short of breath. He tried to sit up but the tube connecting the nosepiece to the wand held him back. What happened? Remus wondered as he shifted himself on the hard, uncomfortable bed.

Remus heard low breathing coming from across the room. He lifted his head and saw Griemer leaning against the wall, looking very tired and anxious. What had Remus done? He could not remember a thing. The last thing he remembered before he woke up was leaving that man's room. Perhaps Griemer had caught him and gave him another sleeping potion? Remus did not know, but whatever it was, it was probably bad. Griemer saw Remus awake and dashed over. Remus wished he would take the nose thing off him, but unfortunately, when Griemer clasped his hand on it, he merely tightened it.

"Perfect," Griemer said, letting go of the piece and stepping backwards. "You've given nearly the entire staff at Hogwarts a scare Remus."

"What?" Remus said blankly. "What'd I do?"

"You nearly suffocated yourself, for goodness sakes! You shouldn't be walking or RUNNING for that matter, around the hospital at night. You were just lucky I was going to check on you. If I wasn't, you could've been seriously hurt. You are not in any condition to be up and about. That is precisely why we are keeping you here for such a long time... we have to make sure you're completely healed when you get back to school. Do you understand me Remus? You are not to walk around."

Remus nodded gloomily. He did not like being cooped up in bed for days on end when he could be out having fun... maybe being with James and Sirius as they pull one of their classic pranks. He hated being stuck in the dark, smelly, hospital every night when he could be back at school feasting in the Great Hall with his friends. Remus sighed and Griemer began to speak again.

"I guess you're wondering why you're on this hard bed?" Remus nodded. "Well that's because it'll get you breathing easier. Anyway... you are having visitors tomorrow, so that should lighten you up a bit. I'll see you later."

"See you." Griemer left the room and Remus was once again all-alone. Well, he thought happily, at least Sirius and James will be visiting... if that's what Griemer meant when he said "visitors." Remus hoped so. They could not come the last time because Remus had surgery again and could not. Stupid werewolf! Remus grimaced, if he were not a werewolf, none of this would have been happening! Then again, it is not so bad... you get used to it.

Remus saw his mirror on the nightstand. He grabbed it and said quickly and clearly, "James Potter." James appeared on the other end. Remus looked in the background and saw James was in the Transfiguration classroom. What was he doing there? There were no classes.

"Hi Moony!" James said happily, not noticing Remus had a large piece of plastic stuck on his nose.

"Hi Prongs," Remus said in a chocked up voice (the piece was stifling his voice a bit). "Why are you in McGonagall's classroom?"

"Helping her with something. Just me here. Padfoot went down to the Great Hall. What's up?"

"I was wondering... Griemer said I'm having visitors tomorrow... would that by any chance be you guys?"

"The guy told you? I wanted it to be a surprise. But yeah... it's me and Sirius... we figured you could use some company after being stuck there for five days. Only four more weeks left till you get back?" Remus nodded mournfully. "Well I have to go, see you tomorrow. Bye."

"Bye." Remus placed his mirror on the nightstand, leaned back on the hard "bed" and shut his eyes.