A/N: I am going to stop apologizing mostly because it is pointless at this point because I don't know how regularly I will get these chapters out, but I will keep trying. Anyway, my excuse this time is work and school, but I am finally caught up and have just enough motivation to get at least through the second and third year. Plus, like I am sure the I have said before, third and fourth year will be more interesting for me because we finally get to some pre-wolfstar stuff so…. Without further ado
Day After
Sirius Black had never been one for waking up early. Not to say that he wasn't a morning person, for, in fact, he was cheery no matter what time of the day. Remus found this quite confusing because Remus was definitely not a morning person. The idea anyone could be happy before eleven o'clock in the morning was perplexing to the lycanthrope. However, no matter what Sirius was like after he awoke, he never enjoyed the "waking up" part of the, day. Especially if the "waking up" part was before eight in the morning.
Nonetheless, on this particular morning, Sirius was determined to be up before the sun. the only problem Sirius found himself running in to, was how to be up early enough to sneak out with everyone none the wiser. Sirius knew James would probably be up and around since the young Potter tended to sleep in short spurt. However, Regulus had spent the night in Remus' bed, and Sirius was convinced his younger brother would wonder what he was doing.
Sirius slowly got out of his bed and tiptoed to the bathroom. Sure enough, the pajamas splayed throughout the bathroom indicated James was probably out on his morning run. Sirius quickly put on his school outfit, minus the tie, and quietly left the dorm. He spelled the time to display at the end of his wand.
6:00 am
Sirius hoped he was early enough. Sirius ran down the dormitory steps and rushed into the common room. Of course, the young Black wasn't watching where he was going.
An "Oomph!" came out of the thing Sirius collided with.
"Watch it, Black!" Lily said, glaring at the rushing boy. When he didn't stop to even notice he had collided with the girl, she furrowed her brow confused. Where could he be going in such a hurry? She thought.
Sirius pushed open the portrait door and sprinted through the castle. He stopped to catch his breath when he made it out to the battlements. He then took up his sprint again and quickly made it to the Whomping Willow. As he reached his location he went over to a line of trees to search for an object long enough to hit the notch James had found. Sirius smiled triumphantly when he found said object, a long stick, at least six feet, he went over to a place where he could reach for the notch. Sirius darted through the opening once the Whomping Willow stopped. By the time Sirius had made it to the entrance of the Shrieking Shack, it was almost light out. Before Sirius entered the shack, he spelled his wand to show the time again.
6:45
Sirius drew a shaky breath. He went over to the door and pressed his ear to it. He searched for any signs he would walk in on a werewolf. Not hearing anything too suspicious, Sirius opened the door and walked in. Sirius scrunched his eyes, half expecting a wolf to jump out and kill him. Seeing as he wasn't dead, Sirius searched the shack for his friend. After he didn't find Remus on the first floor, he made his way upstairs. Suddenly he heard a whimpering. Sirius ran to the origin of the sound, and sure enough, there was Remus.
The sight Sirius arrived upon made him stop in his tracks. For the first time since he had woken up that day, he wasn't in a rush to get any closer. The sight Sirius' eyes laid upon was a pale, bruised, and bloody Remus Lupin. He was laying on the cold hardwood floors in the fetal position, one hand laying out, the other clutched to his chest. His one leg looked distorted and there was a large gash on Remus' other leg. Sirius was finally snapped out of his trance when he heard a groan indicating Remus was awakening.
"Remus," Sirius gasped. He slowly approached the poor child, bending down to get a better look of Remus' face. Along the lycanthrope's jaw was another large cut. Unexpectedly, Remus' eyes flew open. Remus flinched, too scared and hurt to do anything.
"Remus," Sirius breathed. He brought his arm out to touch the shivering boy but quickly recoiled his hand, not wanting to cause any more pain to the boy.
Remus stayed still, not wanting to hurt himself more than he already had. He didn't make eye contact with Sirius and tried to take a deep breath. That backfired when he felt a sharp pain in his chest. Remus flinched when he felt the pain, which caused a ripple effect of more small pains. Remus had scrunched his eyes in an effort not to cry out. When he opened them once more, he was met with Sirius again.
"I'll go get Madame Pomphrey," Sirius said as he watched Remus gasping in pain. Sirius sat for a moment longer, his eyes following along Remus' body.
"No," Remus said, clearing the tickle in his dry throat, and then wincing in even more pain. "She'll come soon. Don't leave."
Sirius nodded and sat closer to the lycanthrope. He reached out his hand once more, softly brushing the hair out of Remus' eyes. Remus closed his eyes quietly relishing the soft touch that reminded him of when his mother sat with him after full moons. Sirius started to gently run his hands through Remus' hair. Just like Remus had said, Madame Pomphrey arrived soon enough.
"Mr. Black, what on earth do you think you're doing here?" The Madame said, quickly running over to the injured child.
"Please, help him," Sirius said in almost a whisper, frowning at Remus hurt figure.
Madame Pomphrey sighed, looking at Sirius. "Move aside," she said, attending to Remus' most detrimental wounds. As soon as the boys most pressing wounds were healed, she wrapped him in a covering and cast a mobilus corpus guiding him back to the hospital wing.
After she had tended to all of Remus' injuries, she let Sirius come over to Remus' still sleeping form. Remus had passed out from the pain sometime earlier. Sirius sat on the side of his bed frowning at the scarred boy.
Moments had passed before Regulus and James came running in.
James stopped catching his breath, "Is he alright?"
Regulus rolled his eyes, "No, James he's dying," Regulus sighed, "of course he's alright. I'm guessing he's been a werewolf for a while so obviously one full moon wouldn't kill him."
"Shut the fuck up, Reg. It's too early for your sarcasm." Sirius said, eyes never wavering from Remus. Regulus eyes widened, and he held his arms up in surrender.
Remus stirred from is sleep, yawning and stretching, and wincing from the pain of stretching. Amber eyes met silver, and he flinched. Remus looked over to the other pair of silver eyes but quickly looked down to his hands. Once more he chanced to look up and found James looking worriedly at him.
Averting his eyes once more, he worried his lip and sat up. He opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it not trusting his voice. He pursed his lips.
"If you're going to hate me, might as well start now. You don't have o pretend to be nice." Remus said finally after a few more minutes in silence.
"Hate you?" James asked, eyebrows furrowing.
Remus played with the sheet in his hands, "They all do, eventually. I'd rather get the unpleasantries over with already, thank you very much." He said so matter of factly. "I don't think I would be able to handle you pretending to be nice to me." He added in a whisper. The room fell silent again, and finally, Sirius broke the tension by gently pulling the young werewolf into a hug. James and Regulus crowded around him.
Remus broke out in tears. "But… But don't you hate me?"
Sirius let go of him, "Hate you? Why would we hate you?" He said, eyes softening.
"Because… I-I'm am-monster" Remus said looking away, not able to bear the looks on their faces when they realize what he really is.
"Remus, your trunk is full of books, and you've read a quarter of the Hogwarts library," Regulus said, sitting at the end of Remus' cot.
"Besides you fold your socks, forgive if I'm not trembling at the sight of you," James said laughing.
"I'm still a beast."
Sirius rolled his eyes, "One night, once a month you grow some fur, that's it. You haven't hurt anyone and more importantly, you would never intentionally hurt someone, and I don't believe it's right to punish you for something you can't control." He said.
"But… but…." Remus sputtered
"No buts," Sirius said smiling.
"I don't' know what to say," Remus said, looking like he was questioning everything that had happened to him since he was bitten. "How did you figure it out?"
"I did, actually." Regulus said, "I noticed your pattern and then asked these two dunderheads about it. They helped slightly but not much. Nothing really came together until I had astronomy class the night after a full moon and had seen you right before acting all crabby. Then someone in my astronomy class mentioned the whole werewolf thing and it sort of clicked. I did thorough research and waited for your pattern to show itself again before I conferred with them about it. I hope you don't' mind." Regulus finished, looking down, realizing maybe he should have confronted Remus first since it was his secret.
Remus smiled, "I don't think I mind. I should actually thank you. I don't believe I would have ever admitted to it and I hated lying about it. Especially to you guys," he looked up at Sirius and looked down again, "I'm sorry for not telling you sooner"
Sirius grinned, "It's understandable, however, I will hold it over your head for the rest of the semester of course,"
"Of course," Remus said, mocking the elder Black.
Regulus looked at the clock on the wall, "Oh, I should get to class. Please promise me neither of you will skip just for Remus." Regulus said, getting up and grabbing his bag of books.
"No promises brother mine," Sirius said nudging James on the shoulder and sharing a mischievous grin.
"Yeah, no promises, Reg," James said looking over at the time, "Remus do want us to get you anything?"
"Yes, actually, my homework." Remus said smirking.
"But for that, we'd have too…. Oh." Sirius stopped realizing he just got played, "You little shit." He said getting off the bed and grabbing James arm, "We're leaving, Potter. Can't let our Remmy get behind on his homework."
A/N thank yo so much for reading and sticking with me this far. like i always say, i hope these chapter will get out more quickly, but no proises. love you all and am awaiting your reviews(insert smiley face here)