AN:
Thank you guys for reviewing (: I'm trying to finish translating it before the end of the summer because in the begining of september i won't be home except for the weedends and then I won't have time to write...
So anyways, here's chapter 10. Enjoy (:
Chapter 10
Remus' point of view
The first thing Remus did the next morning after he woke up was to run to the infirmary. He had a strong headache, mostly because he couldn't sleep at the previous night because of nightmares, but also because he was very concern.
He entered the infirmary and approached the only taken bed in the room. The sight in front of him was the most horrible thing he'd ever seen.
The sheets that used to be white were soaked with blood. On them laid a thin body, wearing hospital pyjamas pants, which were also stained in red. His stomach was covered with a thick bandage, thought you could still see parts of the deep cut it tried to hide. His chest which was bare and exposed was full of ugly scratches and wounds which started to turn blue. So were his hands which lay at the sides of his body.
Remus approached the bed, even though his mind screamed at his to run away as fast as he can. He lifted his gaze to meet the pale face of the boy, his own face. They were barely recognizable, red stains covered almost every part of the soft but wounded skin.
He felt like he was going to throw up. The sight was unbearable and he nearly fell when his head started to get dizzy. Luckily for him, a pair of hands wrapped behind him and prevented him from slipping to the floor.
"Remus," he recognized Madam Pomfrey's voice, who was the one to catch him. Remus expected her to continue her sentence, but she remained silence.
"What- what happened?" he asked, his voice shaking. "Why does he look like that? My condition was never that bad…"
"It's quite long," the nurse replied and helped him stabilize himself on his legs again. "Let's get into my office and I'll explain everything there."
Remus nodded and followed her to her office, being carful not to peek in the unconscious boy again. Remus had been to that office only once before, when he'd first spoken to the school nurse in the beginning of his first year. He still remembered the fear he'd felt when he'd known that so many people knew his secret, even if all the teachers had swore not to tell anybody. This time his fear was much worse.
Madam Pomfrey sat at a small desk and instructed him to sit on the chair in front of her. Remus sat, trying to stop his legs from shaking.
"Please, tell me he's going to be alright," he begged, his voice weak and choked.
"Unfortunately, I can't know that yet." Remus felt as if his heart had sunk to the floor. "His state is very bad, and I can't even tell if he's going to make it through next week."
Remus' eyes winded in horror and he was barley able to bring himself to ask his next question, "but why?"
Madam Pomfrey sighed and looked out the window in her little office. The sky was still a bit dark, though the sun had started to shine an hour ago.
Remus watched her with tension, not knowing what to do with himself. His eyes started to ache and he knew it won't be long until he could stop himself from crying.
Finally, after some long minutes which seemed Remus like forever, Madam Pomfrey returned to look at him and said quietly, "I'm not sure. I've never seen a drastic case like that. He has two unusually deep cuts, in his head and stomach, and they're both very serious. I'm doing the best I can, but you already know how hard it is to take care of werewolf's wounds."
Remus nodded and felt a lamp in his throat when the tears started to fall from his eyes.
"I don't know why it happened," continued the nurse, "but according to my theory, it happened because the wolf sensed a strange presence in its body, which made him get crazier than usual. It that's indeed the case, it would be extremely hard to take care of him, because your body still hasn't got used to his presence, therefore he won't start to heal himself like after your usual transformations."
"B-but there's a w-way to help him, right?" Remus asked while panic started to take over him. "There must be a way, there's always a way!"
Madam Pomfrey seemed to be considering something with herself, until she finally replied, "Yes, there's a way." Remus let out a sigh of relief, but then the nurse continued to speak, "The only way to help him is if you'll get back to your body and he'll get back to his. If my theory is right, as soon as you'll be back in your body, it will recognize you and start to heal itself."
Thick silence filled the room when she finished her speech. Remus understood the meaning of the way Madam Pomfrey had just described, but decided not to dwell over it at the moment, there were more important things to think about.
"So what you're saying is that the only way is if we switch back?" he asked, and when the nurse nodded he continued, "But Professor Slaghorn's potion will only be ready in a week!"
"That's true," Madam Pomfrey agreed.
Remus buried his wet face in his hands, "But… but you said he might not make it 'till next week…"
"I'm sorry, Remus."
Remus didn't want to hear anymore. He stood up, excused himself and went out of the room. His head felt dizzy again and now he could barely see where he was going because of the tears in his eyes. He moved slowly in the wide passageway between the hospitals beds, and stopped next to the bed in which laid his friend. But to his surprise, he wasn't the only one.
On one of the chairs next to the bed sat a tall and black haired teen, holding one of the wounded boy's hands in his. When he heard Remus' footsteps he raised his head and their eyes met. Remus found himself staring into the grey eyes of Sirius Black.
On his cheeks were still remains of tears and his eyes showed rage which replaced the sadness they'd contained before.
"You!" he called, stood up and pointed straight at Remus. "This is all your fault!"
Remus eyes winded and he stepped back in fear. He hadn't expected to bump into Sirius that early. He hoped he could relax first, before he would have to face his accusing friend.
"Sirius…" he mumbled but Sirius didn't listen. He shot him a murderous glare and started to walk towards him in quick steps.
Remus freaked. He'd never seen Sirius that angry. Something inside him told him it would be a good idea to start running now, so he turned around and left the infirmary. He heard Sirius behind him and knew he couldn't run forever, but if he could at least find a place to hide… he thought about running to the library, but remembered it was still close at this hour. The idea of getting back to the dorm was erased from his mind immediately, since he didn't want to wake up any of his sleeping Gryffindor friends.
He let his legs decide and found himself in the Great Hall. Luckily for him the front door of the castle was open and he ran through it into to school grounds. Maybe he could hide behind Hagrid's hut, if he could only get there in time… but the footsteps behind him got closer until Remus felt a hand pulling him and turning him around.
"Sirius, I-" he started but before he could finish his sentence a strong punch hit him right in his face and he lost his balance. He fell backwards while Sirius attacked him, hitting every part of him he could reach.
"Your fault-" punch, "-Remus is lying there-" punch, "-covered in blood-" punch, "-hardly breathing-" punch, "-and it's all-" punch, "-your-" punch, "-Fault!"
His glasses fell to the ground and Remus heard a smashing sound when Sirius stepped on them. Now he could barely see something and even if he would have tried to stop the guy bending over him he couldn't succeed.
"Padfoot, please…" he mumbled in a week voice. He felt Sirius leaving him and retreating backwards.
A few moments passed while no one moved. Remus wasn't sure why Sirius had stopped, but didn't complain. He laid on the damp grass, shivering from the cold, his whole body hurting.
Everything was quiet around him, until he heard Sirius saying, "Reparo," and after a moment his glasses were back on his nose and he could see again.
He looked at Sirius in worry and saw him staring back at him in with shock expression, probably from what he'd just done.
Remus tried to sit and wipe the blood from his face.
"James-" began Sirius back Remus hurried to interrupt.
"It's alright," he said. He didn't need to hear Sirius' apologies, not when the real James was lying in the infirmary, walking on the thin line between life and death.
Sirius nodded and after another awkward silence he straightened his look at Remus for the first time since they were at the hospital wing and asked, "You went out of Madam Pomfrey's office… What did she say?"
"His state is bad, more than ever," Remus replied quietly.
"Why?"
He tried to think how to answer this question without reveling the truth but couldn't. After a few long seconds he just said, "She doesn't know."
"I know why," Sirius said and Remus heard bitter in his voice, "It's because we weren't with him last night! We could have helped him and now look what happened!"
"I'm sorry," Remus looked down at his feet. He knew it wasn't really his fault, but felt guilty nevertheless. After all, if he agreed to go as Prongs maybe all of this wouldn't have happened. Maybe the reason why James' state was so bad wasn't because the wolf had felt a strange presence in his body, like Madam Pomfrey claimed.