41.
The boy slowly became aware of the utter agony which ripped through his body. The moment which he could feel all the pain and damage done to his body, he longed for the oblivion from which he had just emerged. He remembered who he was, what he was, and he yearned to forget once more. His eyes would not open and for this he was immensely grateful, for he had no desire whatsoever to see the damage which the wolf had wrought. There was not a single cell in his body which desired to see what had happened, yet he knew that sooner or later he would have to look. He would have to see what had become of his body and the room which he had undoubtedly savaged during the night. He only wanted to lay there as ignorant as it was possible for him to be, not moving until either he was taken from this world, or else Madam Pomfrey came to carry him out.
Remus had no idea how long he lay there in a pool of his own blood, surrounded by the remains of various pieces of furniture. He could tell that most of the agony radiated from his leg, yet a great deal also came from his chest and side. He could hear the steady dripping of what was probably blood, he heard the taunting cheerful singing of birds outside the shack, and he thought that he could hear the soft shuffling of footsteps coming up through the tunnel. He knew that he should open his eyes and at least appear to be alive, even if he wasn't sure that he wanted to be. Remus heard the door open, he knew from the matron's gasp that he must look worse than he normally did after a transformation. A warm hand touched his shoulder and gently turned him over…at least the hand tried to be gentle. Agony ripped through him, blackness mercifully coming to consume him; unfeeling, welcoming, blackness that took him without hesitation.
When he slowly became aware again, he knew that something was different, something besides the blissful lack of pain. Voices spoke in frantic concern around him, distracting him from attempting to figure out what was different. He could recognize the voices of his friends, the matron, and surprisingly, Peter. It was odd to hear Lilly, Severus, Sirius and James all speaking civilly to one another; this in itself nearly convinced Remus that he was either dreaming or dead. However, it was the return of the pain in his chest, which let him know that this was no dream and he was very much alive. Remus slowly opened his eyes to find that he was staring up at the stone ceiling of the Hospital Wing, the instant that his eyes opened, the voices around him stopped.
The faces of James and Sirius were suddenly above him, looking down at him with twin expressions of worry. Remus turned his head, ignoring the sharp pain that coursed through his head at the movement, and saw Lilly standing next to his bed a little farther from James than nearly anyone else would be. The exception to that was standing near the foot of Remus's bed, watching him with an impassive face, yet Remus could see the concern in Severus's eyes. Then there was Peter. Peter stood as far from his bed as he could without being unable to see what was going on. It surprised Remus to see that Peter wasn't looking at him in disgust or hate, he didn't know what exactly Peter's expression was, but it was one far less hostile than any he had worn for nearly a year now. Remus had to wonder if something about Peter had changed and maybe, just maybe, Peter was changing back to who he had been before he had found out Remus's secret.
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'm sorry this is taking so long, but I have been extremely busy with school and only writing when I get the chance. Thanks to all who have stuck around so far and I will try to update more frequently. I just want you to know that this story is NOT abandoned, it is just taking a while to update. So thanks again for reading.