25.
That weekend the three Marauders pulled the first prank of the school year. From the moment that the students stepped out of their common rooms and into the main part of the castle, they were turned upside down and had to walk on the ceiling. Many students and teachers attempted to jump from the ceiling to the floor in an attempt to right the world again, yet they were inexplicably pulled back up to the ceiling. It made for an interesting morning to say the least. Breakfast was especially interesting, as everyone had to levitate food from the tables below, up towards themselves in order to eat. Both Sirius and James were rather disappointed when the teachers managed to right everyone by mid-day; they had hoped that the fun would last until at least that night. Remus figured that the teachers had had enough and simply wanted to bring some order back to the school.
Peter avoided all of them for the next week and a half, and while this was an improvement in most things…Remus couldn't help but notice the smug look that appeared on Sirius' face whenever he saw Peter and his swollen and slightly crooked nose. Remus knew it was wrong, yet even he felt no small amount of satisfaction whenever he saw the dark bruise on Peter's jaw, apparently he hit harder than he had originally thought.
He had practically been drug to the hospital wing (though he wasn't attempting to get away from the others), where his fractured arm and leg had been healed almost instantly by Madam Pomfrey.
James and Sirius had both gotten some odd kind of satisfaction that Peter hadn't gone to the matron to heal his nose and Sirius thought that it was fitting that Peter had a crooked nose now. James however, was more irritated that Remus hadn't wanted to "bother the matron" and that he and Sirius had had to forcefully take him to the hospital wing.
While Remus was unsure as to whether he felt that Peter had deserved that, he was more worried about the anger which had surged through his body. It had scared him, even though while he had been so filled with anger that he thought it would consume him, he had wanted nothing more than to exact revenge on Peter for everything that he had put him through. The fact that he had felt that way, made him think that perhaps he was more werewolf, more monster than human. As though the monster was waiting just below the surface, and waiting to get out.
Remus had begun secluding himself, not only from James and Sirius, but from Severus and Lily as well. He was terrified that the monster inside him was growing stronger, and that soon it would be free, free to tear through the castle and harm those who were his friends. Remus couldn't allow that to happen, he had to keep the monster within under control, and to do that he had to be away from people. He was careful though, he didn't go anywhere without his wand and if he saw Peter, then he turned and went a different way.
Remus knew that his behavior was concerning to his friends, yet how could he explain to them about the monster, without them becoming afraid and possibly turning from him, even though they already knew what he was. To Remus it seemed impossible that they had accepted what he was and still wanted to be friends with him, he knew what the world thought about werewolves and he was sure that while his friends may be accepting of what he was; they had never seen the wolf. And if he told them that the wolf had seemed closer to the surface, he was sure that they would turn from him and he wasn't sure that he could deal with that. Perhaps it was better for everyone if he was on his own, separated from people, to keep them safe from him—safe from the monster that dwelt inside him.
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! I know this chapter is short, please don't be upset, the next one will be longer.