14.
Madam Pomfrey was growing increasingly worried for the boy on one of the beds in the hospital wing; he had stopped breathing several times in the past few hours since she had brought him back to the castle. Pomfrey had finally managed to get him breathing consistently and now she was attempting to heal the more serious wounds which the wolf had inflicted; namely his shattered shoulder, the ribs that poked through his skin and his leg which was broken almost to the point that it was beyond even magical repair. She was consumed with worry that he wouldn't make it, and she wondered what had been different with this transformation that had resulted in him being so badly injured.
Madam Pomfrey was snapped out of her concentration by the sound of someone opening the hospital wing door; she closed the curtains around the bed with a flick of her wand and strode hurriedly over to investigate who was coming in so early.
James and Sirius were apprehensive as they slipped as quietly as possible into the hospital wing, they knew that Remus hadn't returned last night and though they knew why, they still wanted to see for themselves. They hadn't even managed to catch a glance of him before the matron had closed the curtains and come rushing over to see who had disturbed her patient. She looked at them in confusion for a moment before asking calmly and politely.
"What can I do for you two this morning?"
"We wanted to see our frie—Remus. To see if he was alright is he, Madam Pomfrey?" Sirius asked rather worriedly.
"No he is not alright, and he may not be alright again…I am not sure if he will make it through the next few hours." Pomfrey's face grew more and more grim as she spoke and her thoughts went back to the boy laying on the bed.
The two boys looked at each other in alarm, wanting to see him more than they did before. James and Sirius darted around the matron and nearly ran to the bed at the end of the wing, Sirius was the first to reach it and he drew back the curtain to reveal the barely alive form of Remus Lupin. Both boys stood motionless, their eyes wide with shock as they stared at the boy who lay on the bed, they saw the bones poking through his skin, they saw how thin he was and the many bruises which had been inflicted by both the wolf and by Peter. What they saw made them grow pale and shaky, they had never seen someone this injured and it was made worse by the fact that they knew that Peter'd had a hand in Remus's condition, even if they didn't know exactly what had been going on.
Pomfrey had followed them swiftly, but not swiftly enough to prevent them from seeing the boy's condition. She gently pulled them away, closed the curtains, and drew them to a different bed to administer a potion to each of them for shock. After administering the potion she sat down in a chair beside them and began talking rather seriously though still calm.
"I assume that you both know about Lupin then. I do not know why this time was so much worse than before, however I must tell you that I highly doubt that he will survive. I have to get back to attempting to heal him, you can either come back later when I am finished or you can stay here quietly". The matron then stood and walked swiftly away, disappearing behind the curtains that hid the boy and beginning the long and arduous process that would hopefully save his life.
The boys sat there for a moment as they listened to Madam Pomfrey cast spell after spell in hopes of healing him, each wondering if the boy would live. Slowly they stood and slipped out of the hospital wing, unable to stay, for the guilt that they felt in not stopping Peter, for they knew that if they had stopped him then perhaps Remus's injuries would not be as severe. They hadn't actually helped Peter in his torment of their dorm mate, but neither had they helped Remus in any way. They knew that what had been going on wasn't right, yet they had both been having a hard time thinking of Remus as a normal boy; of course he wasn't normal and they should have accepted what he was when they discovered it instead of leaving him to Peter. Hopefully they could make it up to him, if he ever woke up. They were both so consumed with their guilt and worry that neither of them noticed the two figures hurrying towards the hospital wing, they didn't stop and insult the boy as they normally would have and though the other two noticed this, they were too worried about the fate of Remus to stop and wonder why. Though both sets of people were going in opposite directions and had entirely different emotions running through them, they were both thinking of only one thing; was Remus going to be alright?
Thank you for reading, I do hope that you are enjoying the story so far. Please R&R.