24.
It hurt to move, to breath, and for some reason to remain lying on the stone floor. It seemed to take forever before he was capable of forcing his eyes open, and when he did, he wished that he hadn't. Remus groaned and slowly pushed himself onto his hands and knees, nearly falling back to the floor when his left arm buckled under him. His arm didn't seem to want to support him, and when he tried to move it, it sent white-hot stabbing pain shooting through the aforementioned limb and brought tears to his eyes. His legs didn't seem to want to let him stand upon them, they much preferred to collapse and bring the rest of him back to the floor with them. It must have been a conspiracy; they were probably in league with Peter.
Remus would have laughed at the thought that his own legs were conspiring against him, if he weren't trying to pull himself to his feet for the fifth time. It didn't work, his legs simply refused to hold him upright. He couldn't very well leave his books or his bag, so before he changed his mind, he shrunk the books and placed them in his bag, lifted his bag over his head and let it rest on his shoulder. Remus looked up at the stairs which led to the main floor of the castle, he had at least five floors to climb before he would be able to get to Gryffindor tower…there was no point in delaying the inevitable. After a bit of debating with himself, he thought it would be best if he crawled up the stairs, hopefully he would encounter a teacher who he could ask for help in getting back to his dorm. Or he could go to the hospital wing, though he didn't particularly want to simply for falling down the stairs.
Climbing both flights of stairs was nothing short of agonizing, for it was slow and it sent jolts of pain through his arm, legs, and spine every time he moved. Yet he had to keep going, once he got to the top of the stairs, he was sure that he would be able to pull himself along the wall and then make it to the next set of stairs. Remus had promised himself that he wouldn't cry, yet when he finally made it to the next set of stairs he very nearly did. How would he ever get all the way up to Gryffindor tower? It would be morning by the time he managed to reach it. He had no idea where the teachers were, it was just typical that when he and his friends were sneaking around, then there were teachers and ghosts everywhere; yet now that he needed one, they were nowhere to be found. It seemed that everything was against him tonight…if anything cared enough to be against a werewolf and get everything else to be against him too.
It was really rather concerning that he hadn't met anyone on his journey from the kitchens up to the tower; it had taken long enough that he was sure that he would have encountered someone. He was severely out of breath when he made it to the portrait hole, gave the password and managed to get through the portrait and finally up the stairs to his dorm room. The other two were either in there worried about him, or they were running around the castle looking for him; if they were gone, he didn't really want to go in there and be alone with Peter. Heaving a weary sigh, he pushed open the door and froze, taking in the scene before him with huge eyes and mouth open, wondering what on earth happened.
Peter was in the room, but he was not alone and he was not where one would expect him to be. Peter was backed into a corner of the room, blood trickling from a cut above his eye, his face contorted in an expression of contempt which was attempting to mask his fear. And he had every right to be afraid. Sirius and James were standing in front of him, their wands out and twin glares of fury on their faces. Sirius had apparently just hit Peter with a stinging hex and was yelling at him, in a voice that was so angry that Remus was frightened.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM, YOU FILTH? TELL US WHERE YOU LEFT HIM BEFORE I USE YOUR SORRY HIDE TO MOP THE FLOOR! TELL ME!" Sirius was beyond reason; he looked mad as he tossed his wand and resorted to punching the boy in the corner.
James didn't even try to stop him; he looked as though he was trying very hard not to resort to using a particular nasty spell on the boy.
Remus was torn, let the other two continue to hurt Peter, or stop them before they did something that they would regret? It wasn't a very hard decision when he actually thought about it, though he did hesitate just long enough for what must have been a particularly violent punch to connect with Peter's face and break his nose. Remus gulped, he really must be a monster if he not only allowed that to happen, but kind of was glad that it did. His voice was quiet when he spoke, yet all three of the other boys heard him.
"Stop. You don't need to hurt him anymore, I am right here." Remus didn't say that he was fine, because he wasn't entirely sure that he was.
Sirius and James whipped around and stared at him. Peter was instantly forgotten for the moment, as they hurried over to Remus and looked at him closely, he could tell by their faces that he must not look very good, yet neither of them said anything. Sirius helped Remus over to his bed and tried to ignore the way that his friend was limping. James had gone back to where Peter was and cast the body-bind curse on him; he turned towards the other boys and walked towards them, not sparing another glance for the boy who sat motionless in the corner. Remus somehow managed to answer their questions without necessarily implicating Peter, he knew that they weren't fooled, but he couldn't bring himself to outright accuse Peter even if he had actually been the one
responsible for his trip down the stairs. The other two finally gave up questioning him and left him alone to change clothes and to get some sleep, for which he was grateful...even though he knew that he would have to tell them again in the morning.
Later that night, both James and Sirius promised that Remus would not be going anywhere alone…even if that meant that one of them had to accompany their friend to the library. It was a torture that they were willing to take upon themselves if it meant that Remus would be that much safer this year.
Thank you for reading, this latest chapter. Please review, and I hope that this story will continue to be at least interesting. Thanks again and you are all awesome!