A/N Hello dear readers, thank you to all who have followed and favorited this fic so far! I really appreciate it, like really really! I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but sadly, this chapter it not very long. I have more written for the next few chapters, but I wanted to separate this chapters from the subsequent ones to make the story more parallel. But you best believe I will be updating soon! Hope you enjoy this short chapter!
James Potter sat on his bed in the Gryffindor boys dormitory. He ran a hand through his messy black hair as he stared at his ceiling. Merlin, it had been a long day.
James glanced at the floor, where Sirius and Peter sat engaged in a round of chess. By the looks of it, Sirius seemed to be winning.
James' gaze returned to the ceiling. He let out a soft sigh, hoping the day would soon ease its way into oblivion.
As these thoughts crossed James' mind, the door to the dormitory room abruptly swung open.
At the frame of the door stood Remus Lupin. Like usual, Remus wore an exasperated look on his face. Unlike usual, Remus' usually styled hair looked like it needed a good comb, Remus' skin lacked any glow of color, and his walk missed its typical resolute sense of confidence.
Running his hands down his face in defeat, Remus slowly trudged to the four poster bed adjacent to James'.
As soon as he arrived at the bed, Remus lay down, shutting his eyes, and releasing an exasperated sigh.
Glancing at his clearly exhausted friend, James ran his hand through his hair once more.
His initial instinct at seeing Remus' disheveled state was to jump out of bed, grab his wand, and search all of Great Britain till he found and killed Fenrir Greyback. He was tired of seeing his friend put up with this shit every single month.
Instead of going on a months-long quest for the vilest magical creature to walk the face of the earth, James sat up and continued fiddling with the red and gold blanket that adorned his bed.
As much as James wanted to act upon the resentment toward Fenrir, toward the full moon, toward every wizard in the community who displayed bias against werewolves, he knew right now an extravagant display of bravery would not fix Remus' problems.
So instead, James focused his energy on the blanket in front of him, still picking at the strands of red and gold. Remus deserved his momentary space.
"Hey Remus, you do realize we've been waiting up for you?" Apparently, Sirius did not contain the same awareness James possessed.
James heard a low rustling sound from Remus' bed. The obviously perturbed seventh year sat up and looked at Sirius:"I have mate, thanks for the reminder."
James bit back his tongue. He wanted to step in and dissolve the minor tension between his two friends, tell Sirius to be patient and remind Remus that they simply cared for him.
During the previous night's full moon, Remus had severely injured himself in the Shrieking Shack. Despite assuming Animagi forms, James, Sirius, and Peter could do nothing to stop Remus' werewolf form from self-mutilation. For some reason, the injuries Remus sustained the night before seemed more serious than usual.
Once Remus transformed into his human form, Madam Pomfrey escorted him to the hospital wing as usual. After noticing his clear lacerations, she attempted to treat him for the next few hours.
At around 1:00 P.M., Dumbledore himself called James, Sirius, and Peter to his office. Dumbledore explained that Pomfrey had transferred their friend to St. Mungo's for "more specialized care." And, with a less-than-encouraging assurance that Remus would not, in fact, die, Dumbledore had ushered the three marauders back to Potions class.
"What happened, Remus?" James asks instead.
"I must've really taken some hits last night. Madam Pomfrey noticed some internal bruising," Remus stated, his tone unrevealing.
"Ouch," Peter grimaced, throwing his friend a sympathetic look.
"Well, it wasn't so bad, except for the fact that I had a nasty reaction to the potion Madam Pomfrey gave me as a cure. Ended up vomiting everywhere," Remus relayed this news with a small smile forming on his face. Like James, Remus was a Gryffindor, and a Gryffindor that took pride in his firm resolve and staunch regard to pain. "Poor ol' Pomfrey couldn't get the vomiting to stop, so she had me sent to St. Mungo's."
"Did that work?" Peter asked worriedly, even though, as James noted, Remus was not currently projectile vomiting all over their dormitory.
Remus nodded. "Kind of. At St. Mungo's they had to give me this special draught, you all know I'm no good at medicinal stuff. But basically I have to take it for three weeks and have a seriously long list of prohibited activities while I'm on it." The pride in Remus' tone slowly started to fade away as he further explained his ailments.
James put himself in Remus' position, and imagined how difficult it must be to always deal with potions and draughts and full moons. James had tried to do all he could in the past five years to alleviate his friends' pain, or at least to share it, but nothing could come close to a cure for Remus' condition.
Out of the three listening, Peter was the first to display his sympathy. "Ah, that sucks, sorry to hear it mate," Peter walked toward Remus' bed and patted his friend on the back.
Sirius fiddled with a chess piece in his hand. "What can't you do, Remus?" Sirius asked.
"Well, for the next three weeks, I can't fly, I can't Apparate, I can't take any additional potions, draughts, medicines or substances including alcohol. And I can't have sex."
"What?" All three boys basically shouted at the same time.
"No sex?" Sirius' mouth practically hung open as the words left his mouth.
"What does sex have to do with your stupid potion?" James questioned.
"Well, the draught interferes with other substances and causes strange reactions. Which is why I can take this draught with my internal bruise curing potion. It reacts with the potion to not make me nauseous. According to the Healer at St. Mungo's, the draught I'm taking will interfere with birth control draughts and cause them to malfunction," Remus explained, keeping his eyes glued to the floor.
"Well that's easy," Sirius smiled. "Just shag a girl who can't have children."
James could not help but laugh at Sirius' suggestion. James could tell by his best mate's furrowed brow and straight-lined lips that Sirius' advice was completely earnest, which made James laugh even harder.
"Oh yes, because there are at least fifty witches at this school who can't have children," Remus sarcastically responded.
"Okay, well if you're going to be a smartass about my perfectly good suggestion, just pull out the next time you get it at." As Sirius provided this suggestion, he picked up a pillow lying by his feet and tossed it at Remus playfully.
James laughed once more.
"At the next party I'm at, I'll approach Elisabeth Wellings and say, 'Hullo, my name is Remus Lupin. If you shag me, your birth control draught won't work. But no worries! I will pull out. Oh, but if something goes wrong, and we have a child, there is a 50% chance it will be a werewolf.'" Remus took the pillow which now sat next to him and tossed it at Sirius' head.
"Hey!" Sirius responded in faux contempt. "Anyway, knowing Elisabeth, she'd probably agree to that."
Elisabeth Wellings. Undoubtedly one of the hottest birds in the seventh year. Even though she was in Slytherin, and that was a major turn-off, nearly every bloke found themselves enchanted by Elisabeth's golden blonde hair, deeply tanned skin, and perfect proportions.
At a party in sixth year, James had flirted with Elisabeth. She seemed to enjoy it, and he thought, just maybe, that he could take her back to his room that night.
However, before the night expired, Sirius found himself in the hospital wing with a broken collarbone after attempting a backflip in an effort to prove his sobriety to Marlene McKinnon. That meant James also found himself in the hospital wing, listening to his thick-headed mate defend his drunken actions.
"Mate, you can't drink at our party this weekend!" Peter piped up, clearly just realizing the ramifications of Remus' impairment.
"You have got to be joking!" Sirius bellowed.
"Sadly, I am not."
"How long do you have to take this draught?" Peter asked.
"About three weeks," Remus sighed.
James' solution-oriented mind began to race. What could he do to make this experience less miserable for Remus?
"Hey," James stated, commanding the attention of the three other boys. "Hey, if Remus isn't getting laid, none of us are."
"What are you talking about?" Sirius shot James a spiteful look.
"We've always been in this with Remus. I think it would only be fair if we should have to deal with, uh, well the other, er, setbacks Remus has to face. No alcohol or sex till Remus is done with this shit."
Sure, this would be a sacrifice for James, but he had no problem sacrificing for his friend.
Sirius, on the other hand, looked much more nervous about James' proposition. "How long did you say it was? Three weeks?"
Remus nodded, his hands in his face.
"Three weeks. That's almost to the end of the term!"
"Sirius, calm down," James asserted. He glanced at Remus before drawing a breath and continuing, "You can still snog whoever you'd like. You just can't shag anyone for three weeks."
"What if I convince her to do it without birth control? Then I'd be doing the same thing Remus could."
"Padfoot, do you really want to be a father by the end of the term?" James glared at his friend, whose eyes grew wide at the mention of fatherhood.
Remus smiled, a look of delight spreading across his face. "Oh boy, imagine! Sirius as a father! I can see it now, Sirius waking up in the middle of the night to care for a baby, Sirius changing diapers, Sirius having to actually behave to set an example for his child - "
"Okay, okay I get it," Sirius cut off his friend, staring glumly at the chessboard in front of him.
"Is everyone in?" James surveyed the room, his eyes lingering on Remus.
"I feel bad making you all do that for me," Remus piped up.
"Moony, enough. I'm doing this with you, it's just a matter of whether or not Padfoot and Wormtail will as well," James glared at his other two friends, his eyes demanding an affirmative response to his prior question.
"I'll do it," Peter shrugged.
James moved his eyes to Sirius, who sat on the floor, looking as if he were a toddler about to throw a tantrum.
"Fine, I'll do it," Sirius shrugged, acting nonchalant despite his furrowed brow and crossed arms.
"Wonderful. Now here's to Remus getting off this draught in less than three weeks," James slowly let his body sink down into his bed and allowed his head to hit the pillow.
Thank you so much for the read! Next chapter to come along soon, and finally, finally, to feature an exchange between our two faves! (And no, I am not talking about James and Sirius, even though they are a close second!) I cannot ask this enough, but please review this fic! As crazy as it is reviews speed up my writing process and keep me excited about this project, and I will always take any sort of feedback. Thank you3