things worth dying

by springleopard

Ever since third year, we've planned to get a flat together. I don't think any of us ever really thought about life after Hogwarts before that. Well - we'd thought about it, of course. But not as something that would happen to us. That June, we finally realized.

19. 19: Remus

Remus

The days go by in a blur.

I revise. I eat, I sleep. I revise some more.

I encourage Sirius to revise. It helps, a bit: he joins us in the library sometimes, when I pester him enough. He gets bored pretty quickly though, and then he'll pick a target and whine until he has their attention. It's usually me, but it doesn't much matter who it is - regardless, it drives everyone up the wall.

After that I don't pester him as much. And when I do, we revise alone. One day, we try working outside. It's his idea, says he needs to get out of the library, out of the castle. We bring our books down to the lake and lean against the trunk of the beech tree. He pulls up the grass while he reads. An hour in, he has to move spots; there isn't any more grass to pull up at the old one.

The next day we try to do it again. But it's a beautiful day, sunny and warm, and the younger years have all made their way outside. Everyone without OWLs or NEWTs to prepare for. We can't stay; it's far too distracting.

We try the Forbidden Forest next. Sirius suggests it. Of course he does. What's outside and doesn't have people? The forest, if you're crazy enough to think that's a good idea. It sounds mad, but it turns out alright. We have to go a ways in to get away from the noise, but we're careful not to leave the path. Well, I'm careful. He'd happily leave it, left to his own devices.

There's no grass here, but there are leaves, and he folds them as he reads. I guess it has the same effect, as he's focused on his book rather than constantly interrupting me.

Towards the end of the month, the full moon arrives. We spend the night romping through the forest, Wormtail hitching a ride on Prongs's shoulder.

We all wake up relatively uninjured, but the transformation is as hard on my body as ever, and I have to spend the following day in the hospital wing. The others head back to the tower for a kip, but Sirius sticks around to keep me company. Not that he's much company - he ends up falling asleep in his chair. But it doesn't much matter, as soon I doze off as well.

Before long it's June, and we've run out of time.