Chapter 26

Sirius woke up slowly. He was exhausted, his body was aching, and it seemed as if his mind was a black hole. Looking around, he could tell that he was in the hospital wing. How he got there, though, was a complete mystery to him.

Madame Pomfery bustled out of her office and came to check on him. It would appear that he was her first patient of the year. "I'll bet that's a record," he thought randomly.

"Well, you're awake, finally," she said as she leaned over him and checked his pulse. He sighed and rolled his eyes. He would think, with her being a witch and all that she would be able to think of a more magical way to take a patient's pulse. Instead she just pushed really hard on his wrist. "Well, you seem to be doing a lot better compared to the last few days, but I still am not so sure you should leave yet."

"What happened? How long have I been here? Why am I here? How did I get here?" Sirius asked, firing off all of the questions that were in his mind at that moment. Madame Pomfery's eyes widened with each question and when he finished she shook her head.

"One question at a time, please," she exclaimed, sitting down in a chair next to his bed. "Firstly, your friends brought you here. When you arrived here you were extremely pale and ready to pass out. And then, while they were bringing you here, you did pass out. So, the reason that you are here is that you were ill and needed to see me. You have been here for…oh, three days. James and Remus have been to see you several times."

Sirius was silent, trying to digest her hurried explanation. Then he sighed. "I've just gotten here and I'm already behind in my homework. How is that possible? How?"

Madame Pomfery smiled slightly and pushed the hair out his face in a motherly fashion. It was really hard not to be fond of the boy. He just had a way with people. "I'm sure your teachers will excuse you. It's not your fault you were ill upon your arrival."

Sirius smiled slightly and looked up as the door opened. James and Remus stood there, looking at him.

"Hey, you're awake!" exclaimed James, excited all of a sudden. He had truly missed his best friend while he was out with his illness. Remus was great and all, but he wasn't as carefree as Sirius was and liked paying attention during class.

"It would certainly appear so," responded Sirius, a smile flashing across his face. Seeing his two friends made him a lot happier. Madame Pomfery got to her feet and let the boys talk. James told him what he had missed during the days he was out and Remus simply handed him the homework that he had missed.

"So what happened?" James finally asked the question that everyone knew was going to be asked eventually.

Sirius shrugged. "I don't know. I've been…well, I've been getting sick on and off recently. It's really weird, because one moment I could be bright sunny sun shine happy and the next moment I'll be so sick that I'll want to die. Very funny world that we live in."

James smiled, but Remus seemed too concerned to do anything but stare it his friend in a worried fashion. "Hey," Sirius said, catching the expression on Remus's face, "I'm not going to die. It just feels like it sometimes. No worrying statements meant."

At that, Remus cracked a smile and James outright laughed. They both quickly grew serious and stared at their friend. Sirius, under their scrutiny, was quickly becoming anxious and fidgety. "Alright, y'all can look away now. You're just making me a little nervous here."

"When are you going to get out?" James asked, hoping that it would be soon. As much as he loved his friend, he was really starting to get tired of taking notes for him. Remus refused to take notes because he reasoned that James would have to stay awake if Sirius needed the notes.

Sirius shrugged again. "I don't know, but I hope it's soon." "Oh no, he thought. "I get to be the dumb mute again."

James immediately caught onto what happened and shook his head slightly, feeling sorry for his friend. Sirius just looked up at James and his eyes told him that he was not happy in the slightest bit.

"Sorry, Siri," James muttered.

"Oh well," he said, looking at his friend in despair. "It hardly matters if I'm in the hospital wing. No one to talk to down here anyways. Unless you count all the sick people who are depressed and don't want to do anything but sleep."

"Sirius, you just woke up. How do you know what the people here are like?" Remus said reasonably. He knew that Sirius was just trying to look at a bad situation positively, but Remus thought that his mute friend needed a pessimistic outlook on life occasionally.

Sirius shrugged and looked at the people who were lying in the beds around him. Quite a few were Gryffindors and Slytherins who had most likely hexed each other while walking down the halls. "It just doesn't seem like a happy environment right now," he responded.

"It's a hospital, what did you expect?" James inquired, looking at his friend in an incredulous manner.

Sirius shrugged again, and James looked at his watch and sighed. "Remus and I have to go to class now, but you get better quickly because I'm getting tired of taking notes for you."

Sirius rolled his eyes and waved as they left the hospital wing.

"Do you think he's alright?" James asked Remus as they walked down the halls.

"I don't see why not," he responded, trying to force a book in his bag that he was tired of carrying around. In fact he was worried about the dark haired boy, but only because he knew that he was taking some kind of medication that would keep Sirius speaking. It had seemed that since Sirius began talking, he was becoming sicker and sicker.

Remus had noticed what James had failed to. Sirius had been sick during the last week when he was visiting. Not so sick that he was complaining about it, but he had been pale and weaker and frequently exhausted. He had also eavesdropped when he heard Sirius talking to Mrs. Potter. He really did hope that his friend would not have to give up talking to remain healthy, but if that was what it took…

"Maybe we should have just stayed with him, to keep him company," James said, looking worried. After all, it had been the first day their friend had been awake in three days. They had, of course, gone in to see him, but it wasn't the same.

"And miss classes this early in the year?!" exclaimed Remus. As much as he loved Sirius as a friend, he knew that class was also very important. "No, you can, but someone has to take notes for him."

James sighed. "You're right, but I don't wanna."

"Stop whining and walk," commanded Remus, prodding James in the back to make him walk faster.

James sighed again and they managed to get to their class right as it began.

A.N. things are going to get happy again soon! I hope. I am so lost, so expect random stuff showing up in upcoming chapters. Thank you for reading this, even though I've had some really bad, random, stupid parts. Anyways, please review!