A/N: Oh my god. I am so. Sorry. That was WAY too long of a wait.
Chapter 14: In Sickness and in Health
"Hey!" James whopped Remus in the head with his pillow. "You slept through the alarm. Class starts in ten."
Remus rolled over, grumbling.
"Come on." James hit Remus again.
"Stop doing that," said Remus in a muffled voice. He wrenched the hangings around his bed with one hand.
"What's this? Ickle Remy doesn't want to go to class?" said Sirius. No answer from Remus; only a groan.
"We're going to be late," piped up Peter.
"Come on, Remus," said James, re-opening the hangings of Remus' bed.
"Cut it out," snapped Remus, shielding his eyes from the light. Harry sucked in his breath; he looked terrible. Thin, dark circles under his eyes, and pale. The full moon must have been close.
"Damn," said Sirius, "you look awful."
"Well you don't look perfectly peachy yourself," Remus grumbled.
"Hey, don't get all defensive, you look sick," said James, now sounding concerned. "Want us to walk you to the hospital?"
"Nah, I'll go myself later," said Remus. "Go to class, you'll be late."
"Okay," said James, though he sounded a bit reluctant to leave his sick friend alone. The three healthy boys left the room, closing the door behind them.
"He's been missing a lot of class," said Peter. "He was sick last month, too. Missed the Halloween Feast, remember?"
"Could be a coincidence," shrugged James. "Isn't that Ravenclaw girl sick? What's her name, the one with the twin? Elaine?"
"Yeah," said Sirius. "Maybe there's something going around."
In the next memory, Harry could see snow outside on the Hogwarts grounds. Judging by the tinsel draped around the Common Room, Harry figured that it was nearing Christmas time. James was nowhere to be seen. This must be one of Lily's memories, he thought.
He saw his twelve-year-old mother curled up in an armchair by the fire with a thick book, while Mary and Marlene played Wizard Chess. By Mary's indignant cries, it sounded as though Marlene was cheating. Alice was watching the spectacle with an amused look on her face.
"Okay, that was not there a second ago," Mary said, gesturing to Marlene's knight.
"Get your eyes checked, MacDonald," Marlene replied, crossing her arms.
"Excuse me, but you're the one with inch-thick glasses, nerd," Mary snapped. Marlene pushed her glasses up her nose self-consciously.
"'Nerd?'" exclaimed Marlene. "I'll have you know that I haven't done any homework all term!"
"Maybe that's why you're so prone to cheating," Mary said crossly, looking pointedly at the chess board.
"Alice, back me up," Marlene ordered, and Alice put her hands up in surrender.
"No, no, no," she said. "This is your problem."
"Alice, you SAW her move her knight!" said Mary. "Take my side!"
"She saw nothing of the kind!"
"She—look, there she goes, she just stole my bishop!" Mary yelled, and she took several pawns and threw them at Marlene. Marlene gaped, and threw her queen at Mary. Several people in the Common Room were now looking on curiously.
"I did not! This is sabotage!"
"Sabotage? Well, I'm surprised you can correctly use a word with more than four letters in a sentence!"
Marlene pelted Mary with more pawns. Mary ducked, and one of the pawns hit Lily square in the forehead. Lily squealed and hid behind her book.
"Here's a four letter word for you—"
"Enough!" shouted Arthur Weasley his Prefect badge pinned to his chest.
Mary and Marlene dropped the chess pieces they were holding.
"Detention, McKinnon, MacDonald," he told them, "for disrupting study time."
"Aw, come on, Weasley," Marlene whined. "We were just having a bit of fun—"
"Some of us have exams," Arthur cut her off. "Either keep it down, or I'll double your detention."
Arthur stalked off to a group of other sixth years huddled around piles of books. Marlene rolled her eyes.
"What a killjoy," Marlene muttered.
"I'd rather have a killjoy than a cheater," Mary said quietly.
"What was that?" Marlene said sharply.
"Oh, I…uh…hey, there goes Black, Potter, and Pettigrew," said Mary. "No Lupin."
"So?"
"You know, that is a bit odd," said Alice slowly. "Usually they are inseparable."
"Maybe they got in a fight," shrugged Marlene. "Maybe they called Lupin a cheater, and now his self-esteem is shot, and he can't bear to look himself in the mirror, let alone get out of bed—"
"Oh shove off," scoffed Mary. "You couldn't drain all your self-esteem with a hypodermic needle."
"Remus has been sick all week," said Lily, not looking up from her book.
"Oh," said Marlene. "Or that."
"Poor Remus," said Alice. "It seems like he's always sick."
"Poor Remus? You mean lucky Remus!" Marlene exclaimed. "He gets to miss loads of class!"
"Yeah, but he has to make up all that work," said Mary.
"Whatever, still beats sitting in class all day, listening to our batty professors drone on and on…"
"They do not drone," said Lily. "They educate."
"Lil, you have some brown on your nose," scoffed Marlene. "And they do drone. They either drone or yell at me."
"Maybe if you were less disruptive, they would yell at you less."
"Disruptive? Moi?" Marlene pretended to look scandalized. "What is this, hate on Marlene day? Cheater, disruptor…as if I am responsible for the world's problems…"
"You are insufferable," said Lily, turning a page in her book.
"Speaking of Black," said Marlene, "I still need to get him back for that incident last week."
Alice immediately started to laugh. "You mean when he—"
"," said Marlene loudly, turning bright red. Alice laughed even harder, and Mary and Lily joined in. "You all stop snickering or you might wake up without a nose!"
The girls continued to roll over themselves at the memory.
"Some mates you are," Marlene mumbled. "Everybody is against me. Laughing at me, insulting me at every turn…with mates like you three, who needs enemies?"
"Lucky you, you've got both!" Lily said through her giggles.
"Shut it!" Marlene said loudly, and the sixth years across the common room glared at her. "Great. You guys are going to make me get even more detention."
"Good, then you'll be out of our hair for another night," giggled Mary.
"You know, I don't have to take this," grumbled Marlene. "I'm going off to make Sirius' life hell. Peace out."
James, Sirius, and Peter were putting on their cloaks and mittens. Remus, Harry judged by the lump in his bed, was still sleeping.
"Last chance," said Sirius. "You coming?"
There was muffled groaning from the lump.
"What was that?" asked Peter.
"Hold on. I'm fluent in Killjoy," said James sarcastically. "Translation: 'I am not coming outside with my awesome friends because I am a huge fat lard who never wants to do anything fun.'" Sirius and Peter guffawed. Remus adjusted himself under his blankets and drew the hangings around his bed again.
"Let's go," said Sirius, motioning for Peter and James to follow. They left the dormitory, leaving Remus by himself.
Harry followed the trio down the stairs and into the Gryffindor Common Room. This must be the same memory as the previous one, Harry realized, but from a different perspective. Marlene and Mary were chucking chess pieces at each other, and Arthur Weasley was making his angry way to give them detention.
The boys didn't give the girls a second look, despite the ruckus they were making. They exited the portrait hole, and Harry followed.
"How are we supposed to have fun without Remus?" whined Peter.
"Are you calling us un-fun?" demanded James.
"No, no, but I miss doing stuff with him."
"Wow, Pete, he's been in bed like three days," said Sirius. "How can you miss doing stuff with him?"
"Yeah, got a crush?" James laughed.
"NO!" said Peter indignantly. "I just wish he would quit getting sick."
"Yeah, I need all eyes and ears on deck," said Sirius. "Marlene is sure to be planning some prank to get me back for what I did to her at breakfast last Tuesday."
The three boys burst out laughing at the memory.
"The look on her face was classic," said James, struggling to catch his breath. "That was genius, mate, genius."
Sirius took several bows.
"We've all got to be on the look out," said Sirius seriously. "For Marlene, and her crazy friends as well."
"Oh come on, Lily would drown a puppy before she broke a school rule," said James. "And Allison or whatever her name is would rather be giving cupcakes to the homeless. I'm pretty sure Marlene is all you have to worry about."
The boys made their way outside, and traipsed across the snowy grounds before knocking on Hagrid's door.
"James, Sirius, Peter!" Hagrid boomed. "Glad ta see ya! Was beginnin' to think ya forgot where I lived!"
"Good to see you too, Hagrid," said James. Hagrid beckoned the boys into his warm hut.
"Here, I jus' made meself some rock cakes," said Hagrid, pushing a plate of rock cakes toward the boys. James, Sirius, and Peter exchanged shifty glances.
"We just ate dinner," said James, "we're not hungry. But thanks."
"Suit yerselves," shrugged Hagrid, taking a bite and crushing the rock-hard pastry with his giant teeth. Peter winced. "Where's Remus at?"
"Sick," said Sirius.
"Sick? Again?" Hagrid sighed. "Wasn' he sick last month?"
"Yeah, he missed a huge Transfiguration exam," said Peter.
"He can' go on missin this much school!" Hagrid said. "He'll end up havin ter repeat a year!"
"Nah, he studies too much to have to repeat a year," said Sirius. "He's everyone's favorite. They'll never make him stay back."
"You never know," said Hagrid.
They stayed at Hagrid's hut for a few hours, talking about various beasts that Hagrid kept in the Forest.
"It's gettin' dark. You'd better head back up." Hagrid looked outside. The boys protested, but Hagrid eventually got them out the front door.
He was right; it was late. The moon had already risen. And it was almost full.
A/N: Thanks again to all my reviewers-you are all too cool. I'm sorry for the lack of updates-I promise i have not forgotten about this story, and the updates will become more regular in the summer! In the mean time, please review and let me know what you think! I miss all of you, and it's goodto be back.
-Dem