I admit; last chapter kind of ended in a cliffy so I thought I'd post this chapter (which is the last one) sooner.
A million thanks to the lovely reviewers, and to SongOfStars!
Enjoy!
A day in the life
Chapter 3
Thursday, May 17th 1973
"REMMIE! Oh Remmie! Rise and shine!"
Sirius woke up to something that sounded oddly like his own voice shouting to Remus. He had a splitting headache and he felt sore all over. This was unbearable. He would have to miss class today.
Still, he felt himself slowly sitting and rubbing his eyes.
"Sirius, let him sleep, the poor guy," said James somewhere to his left.
Sirius opened his eyes only to find a perfect copy of himself jumping up and down on his bed.
"Good day sunshine, good day sunshine"
Like that would lessen his headache.
"Good day sunshine"
Because of his throbbing head, it took him some time to register the fact that he was in front of himself, acting like he had done yesterday morning.
"I need to laugh, and when the sun is out"
A stray lock of hair fell in front of his eyes. Dirty-blond.
"I've got something I can laugh about"
"What time is it?" he felt himself say. It was Remus's voice that came out, hoarse and full of sleep.
"I feel good, in a special way"
Of course.
"I'm in love and it's a sunny day"
The spell. He was Remus for a day.
"You still have an hour before class starts," said James. "And had this hyperactive freak behaved himself, you wouldn't be wasting sleep time. Let's go Sirius."
With a final "Good day sunshine"(1), Sirius (the other) and James left the dormitory.
Incredible. It had worked. The spell had worked. While trying to wake up completely, Sirius pondered on the extent of his consciousness. He could think freely, so he didn't have access to Remus's thoughts. He could certainly feel physically, all the aching proved it, but emotionally, Sirius doubted it. He had felt some joy while realizing the success of his spell, so that left no place for Remus's feelings. Sirius didn't control his actions, nor what he said, or else he would have told James and Sirius (the other) to get out and let him sleep all day. And he wouldn't have moved at all. This pain was insupportable. How could Remus live in these conditions? Condition, that's it . . .Remus probably suffered like this each full moon day. No wonder he looked so sick, poor chap.
So Sirius was a guest in Remus's body. Splendid. But this was no fun. Everything ached. Sirius wanted out.
He couldn't. He was trapped for a day.
No, he had to do it.
Sirius felt himself get up, sending a jolt of pain through his legs and making his head spin. Had it been possible, he would have cried out and sunk to the floor. But Remus, his teeth gritted, made his way to his trunk and prepared for the classes to come.
A school day was a school day. Spending it in another person's body didn't make it less boring. Especially if it was the second time you were living it.
Sirius didn't even try to pay attention to the professors's rambling, what with his headache and the pounding in his ears. And apparently Remus had problems concentrating too, but he kept on taking notes, while Sirius saw in the corner of his eyes that James, Peter and Sirius (the other) didn't even have a parchment on their desks. Note to self: give a break to Remus from taking notes on full moon days.
-
The day passed uneventfully. Yes, Sirius was seeing life at Hogwarts under a new light, but nothing of importance occurred. He saw Sirius (the other) disappear at meals and grin from time to time while glancing at Remus. Sirius congratulated himself for his lack of subtlety.
Then, evening came. This was the moment of truth. Sirius by now felt extremely sick, light headed and drained. He only wanted to lie down on the floor and die. But Remus made his way to the dormitory, put on some torn clothes under his robes, and headed to the portrait hole.
"I see a bad moon rising" he heard behind him.
Remus spun around.
"I see trouble on the way" continued to sing Sirius (the other) on a common room comfy chair.
Sirius once again congratulated himself, this time for his lack of tact and timing.
"Must you sing that every time?" Remus asked.
Sirius (the other) simply smirked. "Don't go around tonight, well it's bound to take your life, there's a bad moon on the rise"(2)
Sirius felt irritation towards himself. Like this was a joking matter.
Remus only grinned back. "See you tomorrow!" shot back the werewolf good-naturedly.
Even if his friend had took it with a good disposition, Sirius felt bad. He hadn't even seen the worst of it yet and still him singing about it had been so . . .wrong.
Note to self: stop acting like an idiot.
Remus walked through the deserted hallways to the hospital wing, where he met with Madam Pomfrey. Then, they set off to the Whomping Willow. The matron took a stick and poked a knot in the willow's base. It froze instantly. So that was how it worked. Remus had told them where he transformed, but not how to access it from the school grounds.
The werewolf went down the tunnel under the tree, half-crouched. After a long tedious walk, a light appeared at the end of the cave, indicating an opening. Remus slipped through it to enter a small room made of wood with barricaded windows. The furniture was half destroyed.
The Shrieking Shack.
Remus removes his robes and shoes to hide them under a loose plank on the floor. He then made his way through a corridor and up some stairs. Entering what looked like an old bedroom, Remus settled himself on the four-poster bed in the corner.
Sirius was grateful for the lack of movement. It only made the pain worst. He felt he would vomit if he opened his mouth, his head would explode any minute now and his stomach was on fire.
As the full moon neared even more, he became numb with pain and felt the fear and distress Remus surely also felt. Then, sharp knives began to pierce his chest, increasing gradually in force, making him suffocate. For the first time, Remus actually reacted to the growing torment. He broke in cold sweat, curled up in a ball; his breathing became difficult and a sob escaped his lips. A sob of anguish, but mostly of dread for what was to come. Soon he would be a beast. How he hated it. He hated losing consciousness, he hated transforming, he hated the morning after, he hated leaving his friends, he hated what he was, he hated himself! Tears of anger and of repulsion formed in his eyes; he clenched his teeth, a lump in his throat. He felt like dying right now. No more wolf, no more suffering. He longed for nothingness.
But then, the moon began its ascension in the sky. A bloodcurdling scream cut the night's silence as his body burned with agonizing pain. His skeleton, his muscles, everything felt like they wanted to torn themselves out of him, mostly by his throat. Spasms took control of his body; his white-knuckled hands ripped the sheets off the bed. His articulations and bones broke to reform themselves. His knees snapped back. Tears of agony streamed down a forming snout. He sobbed more than he screamed now. The pain was just too much. His hoarse cries changed into howls. With a final convulsion and terrible yell, Remus and Sirius lost consciousness.
-
Remus awoke with a start. Someone was screaming. Sirius. He was curled on the floor, his eyes shut tightly. James was watching from afar, not knowing what to do, while Peter was up on his bed, a scared look on his face.
Only then did Remus notice his mouth tasted odd. Pushing that thought aside for later, he came out of his bed and crouched beside Sirius. As did James.
"Sirius, wake up mate," said James, shaking his friend by the shoulder.
Sirius opened his eyes wide in fear. Seeing James, he recoiled until he hit the wall. Then, he took his head in his hands, rocking back and forth like a scared child.
"What's with him?" whispered Peter.
"Dunno," answered James, slightly hurt by Sirius's behaviour.
Remus reckoned he could give it a try. Pushing aside a glass and an empty cauldron that were in his way, he slowly approached his troubled friend.
"Sirius . . ." he ventured.
Sirius instantly launched himself in Remus's arms.
"Shhh, calm down."
Sirius only clenched tighter at hearing his voice. The werewolf hugged back, uncertain, and looked at the others for help. They only blinked in confusion.
"This isn't normal now, is it?" asked silently Remus.
James shook his head slightly.
"Now Sirius, it was only a dream," murmured Remus.
"No, no, it wasn't, no . . ." choked Sirius.
"Yes, it was, only a bad dream," soothed the werewolf, tapping him on the back.
"No, it was for me, but not for you . . ."
Remus was quite taken aback. "Er . . . would it help if you told me what you dreamt about?"
"Merlin, I don't know how you manage to live like this . . . Oh I'm sorry Rem. I'm so sorry. For everything."
Faltering, Remus glanced up at James, who quietly mouthed "He's gone mad".
"Right" said Remus slowly. "How about you try to get some more sleep?"
He felt Sirius nod on his shoulder. The werewolf watched him climb up on his bed and glance back at him with teary eyes.
Clearly Sirius Black was one peculiar guy.
And they hadn't seen anything yet . . .
-
So it was that, because this story is what it is, Sirius learned a great lesson. One of empathy.
"No taking notes today, Rem! I got it covered."
"Shush! James, Peter! Remus is sleeping!"
"Need help with those books?"
"Come back to us in one piece, there, Remmie! We'll be missing you. Hey I saw you rolling your eyes! I mean it! We'll be waiting for you. Good luck, mate!"
Like Sirius, I hope you did learn a lesson too. No? Oh well.
Just to finish this off nicely: And they lived happily ever after . . . not really, but you know what happened after. Anyway you should. There.
THE END
1: "Good day sunshine" by The Beatles
2: "Bad moon rising" by CCR