"Are you sure you are all right?" Remus asked when he noticed Sirius looked rather flushed as they crossed paths in the hallway.
"Peachy," immediately the other sighed at his own harsh tone. "I didn't mean to snap at you, sorry."
"It's all right, you probably get tired of us asking you that all the time," unable to blame the other for his reaction, Remus ran a hand through his hair.; after all, the three of them had taken turns to inquire about their friend's health daily since the welcoming feast two weeks earlier.
"Mostly James, Fab, Pan, Ali and you. Pete's to timid to bug me like that, but this is your third time, and James, Ali and Fab have asked me how I am at least five times already today and it's not even noon yet."
"We're just worried about you. You're flushed and warmer to the touch than is normal for you," looking around nervously for a moment, Remus leaned closer. "And you smell off."
Something akin to fear seemed to flash over Sirius' features, but the expression was gone faster than Remus could properly register it as a single eyebrow was raised.
"Are you implying that you have a habit of sniffing at me to know exactly when I smell off?"
Flushing, Remus grumbled. "You know what I mean."
"You're lucky that I do and don't take it to imply that I smell," Sirius teased. "But I'm all right, it's just a lingering cold that I cannot seem to shake completely."
"Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey," he tried to suggest despite knowing the other wouldn't agree as Sirius seemed to hate the hospital wing even more than he himself did.
"No, no hospital," came the expected response. "I'm fine, Rem. Where are James and Peter?"
"Peter had to go see Slughorn about his failed Potions essay and James had to report to McGonagall after getting detention in Divination."
"Pete failed his essay? How? We basically helped him write it."
"You're surprised about him failing an essay, but not that James got his second detention in less than three weeks in the same subject?" Amused, Remus watched as Sirius snorted.
"Why are you? You know James thinks Divination is a load of crap and doesn't exactly hide that opinion."
"Fair enough," Remus laughed. "I think he's still mentally cursing both you and Peter for having to take the subject."
"Not my fault, I didn't force him to take the subject, Pete did," Sirius immediately protested. "Just because we decided to share the classes, doesn't mean we have to do so with every single one. None of you follow several of my classes either and speaking of; if I don't leave right now I'll be late for Ghoul Studies."
"I'll see you at Runes later," watching Sirius hurry off, Remus frowned as the same off smell hit his nostrils. He didn't know what it was, but it had become increasingly worse over the course of the last few days and he instinctively knew it shouldn't linger around him.
"Did I just miss Sirius?" James' voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
"Yeah, he had to leave for Ghoul Studies," hesitating, Remus glanced back into the direction the other had disappeared in. "I don't think he's getting better, James."
"No, me neither," sighing, James rubbed at his eyes. "We'll have to keep a closer watch on him and if needed force him to go to the hospital wing for treatment."
"Are your eyes bothering you again?"
"Sirius claims I need glasses because the potions we've been brewing don't help much and I keep getting these horrible headaches," sighing, James ran a hand through his hair. "Maybe I ought to make a deal with him that I'll get my eyes checked out if he lets us help him."
"Or you could both just stop being so darn stubborn," Remus suggested, only to be laughed at as James walked off with a wave.
Shaking his head at his ridiculous friends, Remus made his way to his next class as well; mind lingering on Sirius' lingering health issue and wondering how long it would take for things to escalate.
As it turned out, it was only two days later that Peter came running up to him when on his way to Muggle Studies; expression torn between worry and attempted casualty.
"It's Sirius, he's sick," the mouse brown-haired boy whispered to him as he reached his side.
"I know, he's been sick since the start of term, remember?"
"No, he's really, really sick now. The throwing up and shaking kind and James send me to find you," Peter bit his lip. "He looks like he's going to die."
"Fever?" Alarmed, Remus hurried with Peter back towards their down.
"Yes, I don't know how high as he's trying to refuse our help; but he's sweating and shaking like a leaf at the same time."
Arriving to a deserted Gryffindor Tower in no time, Remus hurried up to their dorm where James was fretting over a coughing Sirius.
"James?"
"Thank Merlin, I need you to hold him down so I can examine him properly," James ordered while altering between using a cold cloth to try and cool Sirius down and trying to subdue him.
"No...I'm fine," Sirius tried to swat at the cloth, but his movements were sluggish and the off smell lingering around him had increased tenfold since Remus had last seen him.
"You're not fine. You're burning up," Remus choked out. "You need help. You smell worse and..."
"Smell?" James interrupted him confused as he tightened his hold on Sirius' arms and pushed him down without any effort.
"Yeah, he smells off. Has done so since the Welcoming Feast and it's only steadily gotten worse."
"Just let me go to sleep," Sirius tried to fight James off, but only succeeded in getting himself further tangled in the sheets and James ignored him.
"Off how?"
"I don't know," trying to put into words what it smelt like, Remus scratched at his collarbone; his fingers brushing past his bite mark and suddenly he knew exactly what it smelt like. "Like a wound that's gotten infected. But he's not been hurt yet this term..."
"Like an infected…." James looked down at the struggling boy beneath him. "Were you hurt at Hogwarts?"
"I'm fine, I just need to sleep," there was something desperate in Sirius' voice as he feebly pushed against James' strong hold, trying to get him to back off and suddenly James' eyes widened and he pulled back as if burned.
The sudden lack of counter weight should have toppled Sirius over with how strongly he'd been fighting James; but it seemed he had exhausted himself and only flopped back onto the bed with a pained groan making Remus realise their friend had indeed gotten hurt without telling them.
"You were hurt before your return, weren't you?" From the full-body tense, Remus knew James was on to something.
"I'm fine..."
"Siri, I know….we all do."
Shifting uncomfortably even as Sirius venomously shook his head, Remus wondered how James knew he'd suspected the other came from an abusive household and why he'd revealed his suspicions so blatantly now.
"I'm fine," Sirius repeated. "Nothing's..."
"We know they're beating you," James insisted; talking over Sirius' attempted denial and Sirius snorted in disdain.
"They've never raised a hand at me," there was no hesitation in Sirius' voice; yet the way he automatically flinched as James cupped his cheek made Remus wonder if that was actually true.
"How about a wand, then?"
The way Sirius looked away enough of a reaction to let him know James was right and cold sweat ran down Remus' spine at the implication of spells being responsible for his infected injury.
"Siri..."
"Don't," where the harshness in his voice would've made Remus back off instinctively to keep the peace, James only pushed further; gently grabbing Sirius' biceps to keep him in place as the other tried to move away.
"We want to help you," he firmly said. "Please, let us help you."
"You'll only make it worse," Sirius whispered as he didn't seem to have the strength to deny the claims James was making any more.
"How could we make this worse?" Peter asked incredulous. "You're terribly sick and only getting worse."
"You don't understand."
"Then make us understand," James brushed his thumbs over Sirius' upper arms. "We're your friends and all we want to do is help you."
"You can't...please….leave it," a sob escaped the feverish boy even as his fingers dug into the fabric of James' shirt and automatically he curled into James' arms when the other pulled him close.
"We can't just leave you, you're suffering."
In the time he'd known the young Black heir, Remus had never seen him shed a tear; yet here he was openly sobbing and it broke Remus' heart to see the other so utterly terrified.
"They'll kill you."
"What?" Both Remus and Peter exclaimed confused at the barely audible whisper, though James' hold only tightened.
"They can't kill us, even if they wanted to. Our deaths would be noticed as suspicious since we're not active in the war."
"They'll stage an accident...you won't….they've done it before. Tuffy and the old man...I can't...please don't ask me...they'll find out...please...please don't," Sirius' broken pleas were even more heartbreaking than his sobs and white hot anger washed over Remus.
How dare anyone terrify his friend to a point where he'd actively try to hide his injuries instead of getting help; get him to deny any injury even existed in the first place lest someone discovered the truth and took care of him the way he so clearly needed.
"All right, then I promise we won't tell anyone that we know," James' voice trembled at his own suggestion and Remus' stomach turned at the mere idea of not alerting anyone of authority to get Sirius to safety.
"We're pretty good at keeping secrets," Peter helpfully piped up, but Sirius only shook his head; though he didn't find James' arms off any more.
"They'll find out, they always find out...I don't want any of you to get hurt," pleading grey eyes, filled with fear, met James'. "They'll hurt you….I'd rather die than let them hurt you..."
"Don't you think I feel the same way? You're my best friend; my brother and I can't bear to see you hurting," James took a shuddering breath as his words didn't seem to register; his eyes hardening as he pulled Sirius back into his arms again. "What if we swear that we won't speak to anyone about this and you at least let us take care of you? We won't tell anyone we know, we'll just help you."
"I can't let anyone find out, it'll hurt...they'll be hurt...they'll kill you, said they'd slit your throat….u-use the Cruciatus…" Sirius seemed completely out of it as he rambled; all the colour draining from his face suddenly and Remus quickly pushed a trash can forward while James half turned him in his hold.
But Sirius mostly dry heaved as there was nothing in his stomach he could loose and James reached out to rub his back comforting; but the touch made Sirius cry out in pain and almost upset the trash can as he jerkily tried to shift away.
Hurriedly pushing the still empty trash can aside, Remus watched as James tried to comfort Sirius without touching his back.
"I swear we won't tell anyone, but we need to help you. You say that you don't want to see us hurt; don't want to see me get hurt, but how do you think I feel? To know that you are hurting and being helpless to do anything about it because you refuse our help?" James carefully reached out to cup Sirius' face in between his hands and leaned their foreheads together. "I love you and seeing you hurting like this is hurting me as well."
Maybe it were the words that finally got through to him; maybe it were the tears glistering in James' eyes that did the trick or Sirius was just too exhausted to keep fighting him, either way glassy grey eyes blinked up to James sluggishly.
"You swear?"
"I do...how about I solemnly swear? It is a definite promise and unlike any other non-magical oath, it is not allowed to break a solemnly oath."
It sounded like complete nonsense to Remus, but it seemed to do the trick for Sirius' feverish mind as he nodded to the weird logic.
"L-like an Unbreakable Vow?"
"Even stronger," James promised easily.
"Then swear," desperate fingers dug into James' arms; but the other gave no indication of pain as he brushed his thumb over Sirius' cheek.
"I solemnly swear that I will not talk to anyone, outside of those currently present, about what is learned here today," the vow left James' lips without hesitation as he stared into Sirius' eyes. "All I want to do is take care of you, please let me do that."
Neither Remus or Peter dared to speak, but Sirius didn't even seem to realise their presence as he stared at James intensely before his shoulders slumped in resignation.
"I couldn't reach...I tried, but they dislocated my shoulder and I can't...even after popping it back, I couldn't reach properly..."
"They dislocated your shoulder?" Peter's eyes went wide, but James and Sirius both ignored him.
"Couldn't reach what?"
"The ones in the middle, I couldn't...I treated the rest but I couldn't reach...I hoped it would be enough, but I can't...," tears slipped down Sirius' tired eyes. "It hurts so much...I can't reach..."
"Then we'll reach them for you," James softly promised as he slowly unbuttoned Sirius' pyjama jacket and Remus braced himself for what might be revealed.
But only a few faint bruises and scattered scars marred the pale skin and although he was much thinner than could be considered healthy; the sight wasn't nearly as bad as he'd imagined and he breathed out relieved.
"What do you use to hide your injuries?" James' words made Remus' heart plummet as he hadn't even considered Sirius would be hiding his injuries with more than just his clothes and he watched as Sirius shakily raised his left arm.
Without hesitation, James took it; only momentarily glancing at the pale skin before slipping Sirius' watch of to reveal an unusual looking Rune Remus didn't recognise.
"I don't...you designed this yourself, didn't you?" He couldn't help but ask and tired grey eyes slowly shifted to him.
"I had to….I couldn't risk….they might find out...I..." he seemed unable to continue but Remus understood what he'd been trying to say.
"It's why you avoid the hospital wing as the plague. Even if you designed it yourself, they might notice something is off when your injuries don't match with what's displayed and might make them scan for hidden injuries."
"How do I lift it?" James brushed a deliberate finger over the Rune on Sirius' wrist.
"With the Rune for friend."
Sirius looked ready to pass out and was shaking even more noticeable than before, but before Remus could suggest they give him some Pepper-Up Potion his mind blanched as deep horrible looking bruises suddenly appeared on flushed skin; travelling criss-cross from what was visible of his torso to his right collar-bone and no doubt continuing it's path over his shoulder towards his back.
Several wounds, in various states of healing littered his arms and stretched out from underneath badly applied bandages; which ran in a weird pattern over his ribs and stomach and Remus briefly wonder how Sirius had thought they'd be of any help before his previous words came back to him.
Sucking in a sharp breath at the realisation these weren't meant for the wounds on his torso at all, he wasn't all that sure if he wanted to see what Sirius was hiding if these were actually treated wounds.
From James' clenched teeth as he looked over Sirius' shoulder, he knew it couldn't be good; but still found himself moving closer in morbid curiosity to get a look at the other's back for himself.
"Pete, get me a bowl of warm water; two clean cloths and a bunch of towels," he forced out while staring at the dirty mess of yellowish bandages sticking to his back. "What spells did you use to try and heal yourself?"
"D-doesn't work on d-d..."
"Dark magic can't be healed by Healing Magic, Dittany is the only thing that works remotely and I think he's already tried to apply that," James bit out; his voice thick as he examined the bandages before pulling Sirius back into his arms.
The other boy was both tense and hunched into himself as he shook not only with fever but also with obvious terror at having his injuries so utterly exposed when everything clearly screamed at him to hide.
But although he had buried his face in James' shoulder, he didn't try to get away any more and Remus took a deep breath to force his fury at the horrible beings that were Sirius' parents back; focusing on treating the other's wounds.
"Have you taken any pain relieving potions?"
"One, yesterday," there was an unmistakable apology in Sirius' voice; though what he could possibly be sorry for was a mystery when he was so clearly in pain, but James let out a sound like a wounded animal.
"Please...please tell me you weren't saving them for Remus."
Horrified, Remus realised that yes, that was exactly what Sirius had been doing even without the other answering and he closed his eyes momentarily to pray for strength before he might strangle the idiotic boy before him.
"Pe.."
"Already got it," the brown-haired boy handed James the potion he'd retrieved from the first aid kit Sirius normally got stashed under his bed, but was now placed on the bed and James helped Sirius take it.
They all held their breath for several long moments before Sirius' entire body shuddered and he relaxed; eyes closing as the pain relief set in.
"Do you think Murtlap Essence will work?" James carefully shifted Sirius down a little so that Remus had unrestricted access to his back.
"No...that's...emergency..." Sirius half hearted argued, but James softly shushed him; brushing his thumb back and forth over Sirius' upper arm in silent comfort while Remus picked up the cloth and wetted it thoroughly in the bowl Peter had retrieved.
Sighing, Sirius shifted to get more comfortable; breath choking a little as he did before he relaxed again, face half buried against James' chest and eyes closing again as the other kept up his soft caressing.
Taking it as a sign to start, Remus grimly set to work; cleaning his hands while Peter placed two of the towels on the bed between him and Sirius to prevent the sheets from being dirtied by what he was going to do.
It wasn't the first time bandages had gotten stuck to wounds, so they all knew exactly what to do, even if it was usually Remus leaning against James while Sirius treated his self inflicted wounds and the reversal of roles didn't sit right with him one bit.
But knowing there was nothing he could do about what had happened, he carefully began to cut the bandages loose from around Sirius' torso; wetting the ones stuck to the wounds so that they'd loosen on their own and had to swallow back bill as the off smell intensified.
"Do you need me to take over?" James asked worriedly, but before Remus could even consider it Sirius whimpered in obvious distress.
The fingers digging into James' sides had to hurt with how much their grip tightened, but James didn't try to dislodge him and instead leaned over Sirius to softly whisper to him.
"I'm not going anywhere," he tried to reassure their friend, keeping up the caressing of his upper arm with one hand while the other began to brush through the soft locks. "I'll stay right here, I promise."
It hurt to see the fear lingering in the normally warm grey eyes as they sluggishly blinked and it momentarily stung that Sirius refused his comfort, but immediately Remus berated himself for feeling that way.
No matter how close they all were, it was James who Sirius was closest to and who brought him the most comfort. It didn't mean Sirius didn't care about them or didn't trust them, it was just James who he always instinctively sought out when scared, so it made sense it would be him he'd seek the comfort from now when he was so utterly vulnerable.
"I'm fine," he forced both his dark thoughts away and his stomach contents to remain where they were as he wetted the cloth again to apply more water to the bandages once Sirius' eyes had been closed for more than a minute and his body had relaxed again as much as it could now that he'd been assured James wasn't going anywhere.
He needed several attempts to even begin to loosen the bandages; but once they did he carefully began to remove the dirty layers, reapplying water where needed while trying to ignore the ragged breathing of the boy he was without a doubt hurting.
But Sirius didn't make a sound as James' held onto him and at long last the last of the bandages came loose; making Remus' nausea return tenfold while Peter quickly looked away with a curse when his bare back was revealed.
James' breathing stocked at the revealed sight; tears welling up, but he immediately reached down to comfort Sirius when the other moaned in pain as air hit the terrible looking wounds.
"It's all right, they're loose now," he choked out. "W-we'll clean them out and re-wrap them so you can get some rest, hmm?"
"S'y..." Remus wasn't sure what Sirius was mumbling, but James seemed to understand perfectly as he leaned down to brush his lips against Sirius' hair.
"I'm not going anywhere," he softly promised, teeth clenching as his eyes seemed unable to leave the sight before him.
Not that Remus could blame him as he too was unable to look away from the slashes carved into Sirius' back; though the injuries themselves told him his attacker had come from above, Sirius beneath the monster responsible.
Thick and long lines were carved into his skin in various patterns, making him think a whip of some sort was responsible as although the lines spread out to Sirius' shoulders and down his entire back, they always ended in a thick base just above his waistline; giving the impression of a crude tree.
But worse than the sight of a tree carved into his friend's back was the sight of inflamed skin; a clear sign of infection having settled into most of the deep wounds as Sirius wouldn't have been able to clean them properly.
Thick yellowish push was oozing out of several of the wounds where Remus hadn't been careful enough in removing the bandages and he couldn't even imagine in what amount of pain their friend had to be.
The grim realisation that Sirius had followed classes and spend many an evening in the Common Room with them without ever giving off any hint of the pain he must've been in was horrible and he vowed to keep a much closer eye on their friend.
Because if he had a pain tolerance high enough to be able to hide these kind of injuries mostly successfully, it meant they'd never know when he was injured unless he was open about it and that wouldn't do.
"We're going to have to reopen all of them, don't we?" James took a deep breath. "Is there anything in the kit that might let him sleep through that?"
"No...but maybe..." pointing his wand at the open window, Remus gave a silent prayer. "Accio Sleeping Draught."
They all held their breath for a long moment, but then a potion soared through the window and they collectively breathed out in relief as James caught it and immediately guided Sirius into swallowing it's contents.
Sirius must've been exhausted as it only took moments for his body to go completely limp and Remus quickly set to work; carefully scrubbing the wounds open one by one, having Peter retrieve new bowls of water repeatedly without needing to be asked as he washed out as much of the infection as he could until clear red blood trickled out of the wounds.
"You mentioned Murtlap Essence?"
"Yeah, I've got Dittany, too. Do you want me to apply them so you can take a break?"
"No, just…for Merlin's sake, hold him, don't let go of him," taking a shaky breath, Remus swallowed thickly. "The only reason he's not fighting the potion is because he's sensing your presence. I don't know what he might do if you move."
"I...okay," nodding in agreement, James shifted Sirius' limp form further down so he was resting completely on his lap; carefully popping his head onto his thigh to support it so that Remus could apply the potions without them immediately running out of the wounds again.
Vanishing the contents of the last bowl, Remus handed it over to Peter for cleaning before beginning to apply the Murtlap Essence to the now cleaned wounds.
"Wouldn't it be better to just use Dittany?" Peter asked curiously once he returned.
"Not when the wounds are infected," James explained. "If you apply Dittany to infected wounds, you'll only trap the infection inside the wounds. By applying Murtlap Essence first, you take care of the infection and by covering them with Dittany afterwards; you trap the potion into the wounds. It means the healing factor can do it's work while the Dittany scabs the wounds over so no new infections can enter."
"Where did you learn that?" Awed Peter looked up to James while Remus checked his progress to ensure himself he hadn't missed a single spot before corking the bottle.
"Sirius taught us," Remus accepted the Dittany James held out. "Should we apply gauzes to the wounds before bandaging them again?"
"Might be smart, yes," James immediately picked them out of the kit before frowning. "That's odd; normally Sirius keeps the kit completely stocked."
"What's missing?"
"Pepper Up Potion. I knew he made new ones before the holidays," James checked all the labels on the phials, but came up empty.
"Probably used them all up to try and lower his fever," Peter shrugged. "And we can't nick any from the hospital wings as they'll have closed the windows by now."
Glancing up, Remus was surprised to see it was already getting dark. "Potion or no potion, we should at least make sure there's something to eat for him when he wakes up. He'll need to build up his strength to fight this infection off."
"I'll go ask Tiffy to arrange for dinner for all of us and see if I can nick some Pepper-Up Potion from the hospital wing while I'm at it," Peter hurried out of the dorm and Remus turned to James.
"Can you pull him up so I can apply the bandages?"
"Of course, let's hurry up though. I don't know how resistant he is against the Draught and I'd prefer to have him tucked into bed when he comes around."
Making quick work of wrapping the bandages around the wounds, he accepted the Star Grass Salve James held out to apply them to the worse of the bruises covering Sirius' shoulder before helping James change him into a loose nightshirt of James'.
Even in a magical induced sleep, Sirius stirred when James slipped off the bed; but settled again when James lifted him into his arms so Remus could quickly change the sheets before they tucked him in on his side and James made sure to sit on the bed with him, letting Sirius rest his head on his thigh.
"Now what? Were you truly serious about keeping this a secret?" Remus softly asked once it was clear Sirius wasn't waking up yet.
"We swore that we would."
"Technically you were the only one who swore that, but you don't actually believe in the crap you sprouted, right?" Incredulous, Remus watched as James carted his fingers through Sirius' damp hair.
"How do you expect him to ever trust us again if we break this promise? If we tell anyone, we'll lose what trust we've managed to gain today," running his free hand through his own hair, James bit his lip. "Besides, you saw him, he was terrified."
"All the more reason to get him out of that house. James, they carved a tree into his back," Remus hissed.
"And that is without anyone knowing, who knows what they might do to him if they discover we know the truth," James shot back.
"What could be worse than this?"
"Most of the Black descendants are insane, cruel and absolutely deranged," James glanced down at Sirius. "From what I could make out of his rambling, they've already killed at least two people who discovered the truth."
"Wouldn't they have been imprisoned for that?"
"Not if they made it look like accidents. Maybe they even used some of the assassination attacks to dispose of people," running a hand through his hair, James swallowed. "If those assassination attacks are even real and they're not just an excuse for injuries he might not be able to hide."
"All the more reason to get him the hell out of there!" Ignoring the implications of that, Remus clenched his teeth when Sirius stirred at his raised voice and fought to control his temper while James calmed Sirius down again. "Wouldn't it help him to tell a teacher about this?"
"We can't, not without being sure we can actually get him out of there. Despite their insanity, the Blacks are the oldest Pure-Blood House left and most of the other Houses have married into their ranks. Their political power is immense so if the wrong person discovers that we know and we can't get him out of there immediately, he could get killed."
"Aren't they basically doing that now already?" Remus forced himself to keep his voice down. "I saw the other scars, James Some of those were old, like really old."
"If asked, he would no doubt claim they're from assassination attempts. Which might very well be what his parents will claim caused these injuries and we've got nothing to disprove that."
"Wouldn't his own memories reveal what they've done?"
"Not necessarily. Unless he willingly lets go of them, it's nearly impossible to obtain the memories of a Pure-Blood Heir."
"Then we make him give us his memories," his heart clenched when James shook his head. "Why would he fight us on getting him out of there? They're torturing him."
"You don't understand," caressing the fringe out of Sirius' face, James grabbed a clean cloth to clean away the sweat and tears. "Didn't you pay attention to what he was saying?"
"No, I just heard the rambling of a sick and scared boy not thinking reasonably."
"He's terrified for our safety," running a hand through his hair, James tossed the used cloth towards the pile of other used supplies. "They've threatened to hurt us if anyone finds out. Slit our throat or he even mentioned the use the Cruciatus."
"They wouldn't dare to attack others, people would find out if they did so they've got nothing to threaten him with."
"They wouldn't if they staged an accident," James bit his lip. "They might even make use of Voldemort's threat. There's a million ways in which they could harm us and he would never take that risk. If they've indeed gotten away with murder before, he'll have every reason to keep silent just to keep us safe."
"While he is being hurt," Remus fought the urge to scream when James calmly met his eyes.
"I know I would keep quiet if our roles were reversed. I wouldn't care what they're doing to me as long as he'd be safe."
"So we just stand by while they torture him," deflating at James' honest words, knowing it was exactly what Sirius would be thinking; Remus sighed.
"I'll talk to my parents during the Christmas holidays, see if there's anything they can do to get him out of there. But until we find a solution that actually immediately pulls him to safely without a chance of having to return there, we'll have to keep the secret to keep him as safe as he can be under the circumstances."
"I can't even imagine how much pain he must've been in these last two weeks," defeated, Remus took a seat on Sirius' other side. "So there is nothing we can do?"
"Not right now as far as I can think of," James sighed. "I don't like it, but all we can do right now is treat his wounds, hold him close and show him it's all right to trust us because we'll keep his secret."
Falling into silence at the horrible prospect, Remus closed his eyes and fought back his mixed feelings about the situation. Although he understood James' point, he didn't like it at all.