Chapter 5
It was dark in the hospital wing by the time Harry came to. He knew he was in the hospital wing straight away; the smell was familiar enough, the amount of times he'd woken up in there. He opened his eyes to see the dark wing and was slightly disheartened to see there was nobody with him. He attempted to sit up, and groaned softly at the dull ache in his chest. Suddenly the entrance doors to the hospital were thrown open. For one blessed moment Harry was sure it would be Dumbledore who walked through the doors. Instead he was greeted by the sight of Ron, Hermione, Professor McGonagall and…
"Remus!" Harry cried, as the man swept over, concern evident in his eyes.
"What's all this noise!" cried a voice Harry recognised, as Madame Pomfrey, the strict hospital matron flew across the floor.
"It's fine Poppy, let him have a few visitors, you know perfectly well they will not leave without seeing him." Sniffed Harry's ex-transfiguration professor. The matron through her arms in the air and left huffily. McGonagall looked down at Harry,
"Long time, no see, Potter. I believe it has been all of twenty-four hours since you adamantly refused to return to Hogwarts." Harry closed his eyes without answering, and Madame Pomfrey swept back to her office, muttering about how she was supposed to look after her patients if their sleep was going to be continually disrupted.
"How are you feeling?" Remus asked, pulling up a chair next to Harry's bed. Ron and Hermione did the same on his other side. McGonagall, still stood strictly at his feet, as though unsure whether she should leave, finally she too pulled up a chair, which Harry found strange but not unwelcome.
"Much better." Remus still looked concerned, "Honestly!" He tried to assure his guardian, "I'm feeling a hell of a lot better." Remus sighed and rubbed his temples,
"How you're going to manage out there without us, I'll never know."
"Hey, he has us, you know!" Ron cried indignantly. Remus raised an amused eyebrow,
"Of course, Ron, I do apologise." The man amended,
"Miss Granger explained what happened." McGonagall said sharply. Harry looked over at her, she had a look on her face that would quell even the most rebellious seventh year Slytherin into silence. He wasn't quite sure what to say, so he looked over at Hermione,
"She asked, and I saw no reason not to tell her. It's nothing to be ashamed of you know." The young witch explained quietly. He nodded,
"Has this happened before, Potter?" McGonagall asked, her voice softening only slightly. Harry felt rather than saw, Remus tense slightly next to him.
"A couple of times." He shrugged, without meeting anyone's eye.
"Why the hell didn't you tell anyone?" Ron cried, "We could have done something about it!"
"Like what!" Harry yelled back suddenly. The room went very quiet.
"You should have told me. Or at least Dumbl-" Remus began but Harry interrupted,
"Dumbledore wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. And neither would you." Harry said bitterly, "He wanted me to stay there, and I did. It probably saved my life, so if a beating every now and then is what it took then that's fine by me." There was silence in the room again.
"Harry, I'm so sorry. I can't imagine what that must have been like for you." Hermione whispered.
"It wasn't too bad." Harry sighed, "I mean, it hasn't happened in a while. I think they were worried that I'd remember it too well and curse them when I turned of age if they did it too near my seventeenth. I think he just got a bit…angry, this ti-"
"That's no excuse for his behaviour!" snapped Remus, he was suddenly on his feet and Harry had never seen him so angry. He was normally so composed and calm.
"Remus!" barked McGonagall, "What exactly do you think you're going to do? I know it's difficult when it's your family, but you can't do anything! He's a muggle!"
"Who said anything about spells?" Remus growled and suddenly Harry was reminded strongly of Sirius. He smiled,
"What?" Remus asked, anger clear in his voice still,
"You just reminded me of…someone," Remus sat down and suddenly a grin spread across his face, the anger dissolving visibly,
"I did sound a bit like him didn't I?" he laughed,
"Who?" Ron asked, perplexed,
"Sirius." Harry said at the same time as Remus. They grinned at each other. Suddenly Madame Pomfrey's door burst open.
"Maybe we should go," Hermione said nervously as the strict matron came stalking dangerously across the ward,
"Everyone out!" she shouted, "I can hear that racket your making from my office!"
"We were only talking!" Ron cried indignantly, as everyone except Remus stood up,
"Mr Potter needs rest, if you want him fit enough for more bones to be broken by the end of the week. God forbid!" She muttered as an afterthought.
"We'll stay in Gryffindor tower." Hermione decided,
"Yeah, and we'll be back to see you later," Ron said quite loudly. He looked at Madame Pomfrey as though daring her to argue but she was busy taking Harry's temperature, though he had no idea why.
"Ok, see you." Harry said, and his two best friends along with McGonagall traipsed out of the wing. Remus waited for Madame Pomfrey to be done, and then began bombarding her with questions,
"Is he going to get better? Will there be any permanent damage? Does he need anything extra? Like a potion or something I can get him? When is he going to be out?"
"REMUS!" shouted the nurse, "Don't be ridiculous, he's fine! You know this boy; he's gotten himself into enough scrapes before. He needs nothing except bed rest for a day or so and then he'll be free to go. Now stop fussing. And when's the next full moon? You're looking a bit peaky."
"It's not for another two weeks, I'm fine, just worried about this one." He said, nodding towards Harry, who felt touched at his guardian's concern.
"Remus, it was just a broken rib, nothing more. Really I'm fine." Remus sat down next to him, and put his head in his hands.
"I was the one that came down to get the three of you, as I came out of the doors I saw you collapse on the floor. You cannot possibly imagine the panic that ran through my head when I saw! I thought you'd been attacked by Voldemort or something!" He cried. Harry reached out and put a hand on Remus' shoulder,
"Don't worry so much!" Harry smiled, "I can look after myself!" Remus looked him in the eye, and Harry knew he'd said something wrong, as a look of pain passed over his face.
"What?" Harry asked, slightly anxiously,
"Nothing," he smiled forcefully, "It's just Sirius and James used to say that to me all the time."
"Well there you go then!" Harry grinned, "Nothing to worry about!" Remus shook his head dejectedly,
"Have you seen either of them around lately?" Harry's arm fell from Remus' shoulder and his smile vanished.
"Oh." He merely said. The tired old man before him sighed, and opened his mouth to say something, but Harry beat him to it.
"Remus, I'm not going to die." He said quietly. His guardian looked away, and Harry knew there were tears forming in his grey eyes, "I have the brightest witch of our age looking out for me, and one of the bravest wizards with me, and not to mention the fact that I got lucky all those times, whose to say it wont hold out all the way? Just…try not to worry, ok?" Remus looked back at him, and Harry was relieved to see there was no trace of tears in his eyes. He had managed this situation so far, but he wasn't sure how well he'd do if Remus started crying all over him.
"Alright Harry, I'll make you a deal, I'll quit worrying if you look after yourself!" Harry grinned,
"It's a deal," He chuckled.