32.
Remus had managed to slip away from Lily and Severus without too much trouble. This both worried him—if he could slip away so easily as a human than how would anyone notice him as a wolf, and made him rather proud of himself—he wasn't the sneakiest boy in their group so actually managing to sneak away was a great accomplishment. He had to go and see Peter, had to apologize profusely to him. Remus had to make him see that he hadn't meant to hurt him, that he hadn't meant to ruin his life forever and doom him to life as an outcast. Maybe Severus was right and there was something wrong with him; how could he be this upset about attacking the person who had tormented him so much last year? He thought about the answer to this question a moment before he realized that it was because he would never want another person to have to live through what he did every month. No matter who they were or what they had done…no one deserved that.
His trip to the infirmary was void of anything of interest. The doors of the infirmary seemed more solid than normal, as though they wouldn't open if he turned the handle and pushed on the door. Remus took a deep breath, pushed open the door, and entered the infirmary. Peter was lying on the first bed from the door, the curtains drawn around him. Remus half wished that Peter was asleep and that he could turn around and leave, yet he knew that doing it now while he was already here, instead of leaving and possibly not returning. No, he had to do this now while he was here when didn't have anything distracting him.
Slowly and silently, Remus approached the curtains which hid Peter from view. He slipped through the opening and stood there looking at Peter and wondering how to begin. Remus cleared his throat—which brought Peter's boil covered face, around to look at him; Remus nearly ran out the door and down the corridor. It was at this moment that he realized that he was still afraid of this boy…very afraid.
Remus took a deep breath to calm himself and to steel his nerves, then he made himself look at the boy before him as he spoke in what he hoped was a calm voice.
"I am so sorry for what happened. I never would have attacked you, Peter…never. I-I can't control what the wolf does when it is free…I didn't think that it could get out. Please Peter, please believe me, I never wanted anyone to get hurt…I never wanted anyone to be attacked. I am so, so sorry Peter. Sorry for the life that I have condemned you to, sorry that I got out, and sorry that your life can't be what you wanted it to be. Please don't think I did this on purpose, Peter, please."
Remus could feel the tears threatening to fall as he spoke to the boy who lay in the bed. He waited for Peter to say something, to say anything at all. For a long moment Peter did nothing but stare blankly at Remus, then he grunted and went back to staring at the ceiling. Remus gulped and left through the curtains. He left the infirmary and made it all of three steps before he broke into a run down the corridor. How could he have been so stupid as to think that Peter would forgive him, or even understand…he should have known better. He'd had to try though, had to attempt to apologize. Now he had and he could go back to avoiding Peter as much as possible.
Remus was so busy running that he failed to see Sirius come through an archway and stare as he ran past. He failed to hear Sirius calling to him to stop. He just had to keep running…if there was one thing that he was good at, it was running.
Sirius:
He watched as a blurred shape ran past him and continued down the corridor, it took him a moment to see that it was Remus. Sirius opened his mouth and started shouting at Remus to stop or to wait up, yet the boy kept running. Sirius cursed under his breath. Why did it have to be that the one he was looking for could run so stinking fast and be so clever at hiding? He let out an exasperated sigh and began following Remus down the corridor, though at a slightly slower pace than his friend. Well at least he had been able to place a couple of brilliant hexes on Peter…and get some food, mustn't forget the food.
Sirius followed the sounds of Remus's footsteps and sped up as he heard them stop. Hopefully now he would be able to talk to Remus a bit and let him know that he didn't believe that it was his fault at all. Then maybe he could take Remus to help him and Peeves prank Filch…that was sure to cheer anyone up.
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!