The uncharacteristic silence, that enveloped the Gryffindor Common Room, seemed to be very much welcomed by its' more lethargic inhabitants. An almost eerie stillness was contained in the room, and the loud pitter-patting of the rain from the cathedral roof above, only added to that eeriness. The very same rain had been falling for that past four days straight, and it seemed now that the weather could have been the cause of the loss of energy throughout the school. Many of the teachers seemed to be giving out much less homework then they normally would have been giving, students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry seemed to have much more time to do things that they enjoyed (even though many chose not to do so), and even the ever-energetic ghosts that frequently roamed the halls and Common Rooms had been seen much less as of late.
It was truly a gloomy and depressing sight to see the schools' inhabitants in such a state, especially since even the Marauders seemed to have lost their usual flare for trickery. James and Sirius, who were very rarely seen separated from one another, were barely even speaking; Peter had given up his constant pursue of the two previously mentioned males, and had thus taken up the hobby of napping on the overstuffed armchairs in the Common Room; and lastly, Remus, had been lacking in his studies and reading of his beloved books.
The last male mentioned had also been looking rather sickly and pale for the previous week or so. He had scarcely been seen out of the Sixth Year Boys' Dormitory, unless he had been shuffling to the bathroom, or escorting himself to the Hospital Wing. Usually many of his peers would be offering him kind words to make him feel better, and the occasional offer of some chicken soup as well, but many were too apathetic to do so at this time, due to their own state of melancholy.
At the present moment in time, Remus Lupin was laying on his bed. He no longer kept the curtains closed, due to the fact that no one else was in the room, and also because the air seemed to get thick and very warm when the curtains were drawn together. He could only faintly remember his everyday activities of the last week or so, more so than likely because the majority of his time was spent lying on the very same bed which he was now on and blankly staring at the ceiling; as he was doing right now.
As he was emotionlessly staring at the ceiling above, he did not even notice when one of his good friends, Sirius Black, had entered the room. The dark haired boy, Sirius, moved his bangs out of equally dark eyes, and stood at the foot of Remus' bed momentarily. After a few seconds a confused look crossed over his features. Remus had not even acknowledged his presence in the room, and seemed as if he were almost comatose as he lay on the red cotton sheets of the bed. Hesitantly, Sirius reached his hand out and grabbed onto Remus' lower leg, shaking the smaller boy slightly. After receiving no reaction from the sandy-browned haired boy he shook his leg again, though with much more force this time. This time, he received the reaction of Remus quickly retracting his legs from Sirius' reach, and sitting bolt straight in the bed. The now scared boys' eyes darted around the room and then lingered on the form of Sirius in front of him. He did not say anything for quite some time as he caught his breath, and then shook his head and laid back down, before rolling over on his side.
Once again, the look of concern was apparent on Sirius' face. "Remus, you look worse then usual, mate. Do you need to go see the Nurse? I bet she could give you some type of medicine to make you drowsy, or something like that." He said, much more quietly then he usually would have. Remus took a moment to answer, though just simply by shaking his head, without even looking back over to his friend. Sirius then simply sighed and pushed his bangs, which had once again fallen into his eyes, behind his ears. "Listen then; If you need anything, just let me know. I'll be downstairs so as you can rest." He then headed to the door and paused in the doorway to take one last look at his sickly friend. With a barely audible sigh, he then turned and walked out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.
Remus once was enveloped in the silence of the Dormitory. He rolled over to face the other side of his bed as a wave of nausea swept over him. He felt bile rise into his mouth, but with much effort he quickly swallowed it down. His sickness was never this bad, even at times like this when the night of the full moon was nearing; and that was what scared him. On a normal day before the full moon he would develop flu-like symptoms such as headaches, an upset stomach, a sore throat, extreme tiredness, and aching of his body; but this discomfort he was currently in seemed as though it was ten times as worse than any of that ever was.
He once again shifted his position, though once again a wave of nausea rushed over him, and he had to swallow the foul tasting bile that burned his throat. 'Perhaps a breath of fresh air will do me well.' Remus pondered to himself as he slowly stood up and slipped on his shoes, which lay at the foot of his bed. After his shoes he slipped on his winter cloak, as well as a pair of crocheted red mittens (compliments to his mother who had made them as a Christmas present for him several years ago).
Once he was properly dressed he opened the door that led into the stairwell that connected all of the Boys' Dormitories. With cautious steps he headed down the multiple stairs until he reached the bottom platform, where he opened the door and entered the Common Room. He leaned against the wall for a moment, covering his chest with his hands as he gasped for breath. With even that miniscule walk down the flight of stairs, he had to already stop and catch his breath. 'If I can barely make it this far, how will I be able to make it all of the way down to the Grounds?' He though to himself, not sure of whether or not he should stop right now and head back upstairs into the Dormitory, and thus completely forget about his idea of getting a breath of fresh air. He then shook his head, as if disagreeing with his last train of though, and once again started out towards the Castle Grounds.
Sirius looked up from his sitting spot on the couch to see Remus, looking as though he was struggling with each step, as he shuffled through the Common Room. He was tempted to go ask where he was heading and if he needed any help, but it seemed quite clear that when he had tried to talk to him not even ten minutes ago, that the other boy did not want to speak a word to him, for unknown reasons of course. Whatever the reason may be though, he decided that it would simply make his own life easier to leave the sandy-brown haired teen to himself, and let him come to him if he needed anything, or just simply wanted to talk about whatever was going on. He quickly shrugged off of the thought and continued looking through his bag of candy for anything that seemed as though it would be able to brighten up his mood, if even in the slightest.
Remus, after walking out of the portrait hole, headed down the shifting staircases. Every once in a while it seemed that he needed to stop and lean against the railing to catch his breath. The closer he neared to the bottom of the staircases it seemed as though the longer those rest times would last, and the more frequent that they became. Once he reached the bottom, he had to sit down on the floor, for he could not seem to catch his breath no matter how hard he tried. When he was much younger he had been diagnosed with asthma, but that had been something he had grown out of, but it felt almost as though he was having an asthma attack at the moment. His chest felt tight, and he could hear himself wheezing whenever he took a breath. He coughed quite a few times and wiped his eyes before standing up on shaky legs and leaning against the staircases' railing.
After finally catching his breath as much as he could he headed to the two large oak doors that lead into, and out of, the school. He pushed open the door to his right and stepped onto the top platform of the final staircase that he would need to climb down to get onto the grounds. Remus took a deep intake of breath and then started coughing, which he covered his mouth for. He then started down the stairs, one at a time, until he reached the bottom.
When his feet touched the ground a small smile reached his lips. His breathing was much more even, and his wheezing had stopped now. Even though it was raining and cold outside on the late April day that it was, it was much better than being cramped in the Boys' Dormitory for the remainder of the day. He took in another deep breath and then started walking across the grounds to a small grove of trees that were planted near the lake. He stood under them, so as to not get too wet from the rain, and then decided on sitting down and simply resting outside for a while.
He leaned against the back of the tree trunk and closed his eyes, a small smile playing on his lips still. As he laid there, he did not even faintly realize that his thoughts started drifting. There was no particular topic that his mind stayed on for all too long, for at one minute he was thinking of a History of Magic essay he had due the very next week and then he would be thinking of how he had not seen Peter around for the past couple of days.
"Too engrossed in your daydreams to notice that you're not alone, Lupin?" The rather deep voice of one, Severus Snape, sounded from beside him. Remus' eyes quickly shot open at the sound of his voice, and he gasped slightly. Hew had not known, nor expected that anyone else would have been outside in weather such as this, let alone address a question to him.
"S-Severus, I didn't see you there." He said, catching his breath for what seemed like the thousandth time that day.
"Of course you didn't, as I said, you're too engrossed in your daydreams." Severus replied, not changing his slightly annoyed tone that was almost a trademark for him at this point. A sneer played Severus' lips as he leaned his back against the tree and looked away from Remus.
"I'm sorry." Remus quietly said, not completely sure what in fact he was apologizing to Severus for. It was probably the reason that Severus seemed annoyed with him at the time, and that he did not know what else there was to say to him. It seemed that Severus, too, was curious to Remus' apology, for a single thin eyebrow rose, and a confused expression crossed his features.
"Why are you apologizing to me for? I was simply pointing out the obvious." He stated, pulling his thin coat tighter around his body. Remus noticed this and scrunched up his nose slightly.
"Are you not cold with that light jacket on, Severus? You really should be wearing something more heavy, it's not warm out just yet." He said, truly not meaning for it to sound as demanding or informing as it came out as. He was just trying to point the fact out so as, perhaps, Severus would not catch cold. Severus simply glared at him for the comment, and opened his mouth as if to say some sarcastic remark that would cause Remus to feel much more unintelligent then he already felt, so Remus corrected himself before Severus could even speak. "What I mean is, you're going to catch cold like that. Would you like to wear my jacket, if you are planning on staying out here any longer?"
Severus sneered at him, a disgusted look passing over his features. "Why would you even suggest such a thing, Lupin? I would never be caught dead in a Gryffindor patched cloak such as yours, let alone something a Gryffindor wore." He stated and then, in a much more quiet voice he continued. "Besides, even if I did take it, you wouldn't have a jacket to wear, correct?"
Remus looked away, not caring to answer. He had at least offered it to Severus, which was better than nothing, so he decided not to push the subject any further, especially seeing as Severus was a very stubborn person as it was. Severus simply shrugged it off after a couple moments of having Remus not answer him, and he looked away again.
Remus shifted his sitting position once more, but soon hoped that he had not, for a wave of nausea swept over his body, causing him to swallow down the foul tasting bile that burned his throat once again. Severus noticed this and looked over, raising an eyebrow once again, though not saying anything, just simply watching the amber-eyed boy. When Remus swallowed the bile the previous time, he was once again overcome by a wave of nausea, though this one was so intense that it made him double over in pain.
Severus' brow creased as he watched the Gryffindor before him doubled over and making a retching noise. Severus knelt beside him and bent over slightly so he could view the other boys' face. "Are you okay?" He hesitantly asked Remus, but received no reply. Remus then vomited on the grass in front of him, which caused Severus to almost do the same at the sight of it, but he pushed that feeling back and held back Remus' slightly long hair so as he would not get any vomit in it.
After a few minutes of the two of them simply sitting like that a noise that sounded almost like whimpering came from Remus' throat. Severus just watched him and then let go of Remus' hair, which he had been holding onto. Remus quickly looked up at the dark greasy-haired boy, his amber eyes filled with tears from the pain and burning of his throat. "I-I'm sorry." Remus stuttered, and struggled to stand up, having to prop himself up against the tree to do so.
Severus just shrugged at the apology, deciding that he would not get into questioning what it was for this time. "You should go back inside, perhaps to the hospital wing." Severus suggested.
Remus averted his eyes from Severus and nodded, quickly headed towards the castle to go and get some medication from the nurse. It took him almost longer then it did when he had walked down the many flights of stairs down to the castle grounds, probably for the fact that he had to climb every step, instead of stepping down the.
Every once in a while, when he decided to look back, he could see the faint outline of Severus following him, and that is when a small smile would appear on his face. The smile remained there until he walled through the already-opened doors into the Hospital wing, and simply stood a few feet in front of them.
The nurse looked rather busy at the moment, and he would rather not disturb her, seeing as whatever was most likely wrong with him, was of less importance that the person she was helping with at the moment. Remus was standing there quietly with Severus now by his side, he waited for what seemed like house; but in truth was only minutes. "Mr. Malfoy, you are fine now! There is no need for you to stay in that bed, you can go back to your own and give it to someone whom is really in need of it!" With that said a bleached blond haired boy arose from the bed and brushed some of that very same hair out of his eyes. He looked around the room and noticed that Remus and Severus were standing there. He gave a light smile to Severus and one to Remus as well, before walking off. Severus had barely taken any notice to him, where as Remus had waved back and continued to watch the older blonde-haired boy as he walked away.
Severus sneered at this small look of attraction on Remus' part, and then walked over to the nurse, and started speaking before she could simply get even one word out. "This is Remus Lupin. It seems like he is very sick, and has been vomiting quite often while he was out of the Common Room." He said and then quickly left, flashing a glare towards Remus.
The nurse looked him over quickly and then put him under some anesthesia, though that is all he remembered, for then he had blacked out.
Rose-Colored World / Chapter One / Authored by Niro
Updated on May 26, 2005