Chapter Six- Hospital
"Maybe we should wake him up-?"
"Don't you dare!"
It was Madame Pomfrey, looking unusually flustered and ready to scold the three Gryffindor's. She was usually a patient woman, full of compassion for the poor werewolf whom she cared for, and she also understood how much the boys cared for him. Unlike Remus though, the three boys had a habit of not obeying the rules, especially in the hospital wing (their list of misbehaviours include turning the floor to ice when the Slytherin Quidditch team came in to visit Sirius' younger brother, and turning all the bed sheets into a greenish goo).
"I said don't wake him up, Black!" she hissed as Sirius' hand hovered over Remus' shoulder. "He needs to rest. He had a hard transformation, stress I think, and he has a nasty wound on his hip. Rest would be best for him, so leave him for a moment."
Sirius flushed pink and felt the guilt swirl in his stomach.
"Sorry, Madame Promfrey."
"It's alright, Black, you and the boys go sit on the spare bed."
James, Peter and Sirius made awkward looks at each other. Madame Pomfrey didn't know about their skill of being animagi, but she had noticed that Remus' full moons were less of a bloody mess: they were still gruesome, but Remus seemed somewhat calmer before and after them. Sirius smiled a little to himself as he thought of Remus actually enjoying a full moon- or, Moony enjoying a full moon. It was true though, he thought: Moony liked having Prongs, Wormtail and Padfoot around! Sirius could feel his want to grow a tail at the precise point, but fought back the urge.
"You alright, Padfoot?" James asked, ruffling his black hair a little and rubbing a patch where his antlers had grown out a few hours ago.
"Of course, Prongs." Sirius replied with a slight cheeky smile, and Peter suddenly squeaked with excitement.
"He's awake!" he gasped, and the clambered around their friend's bed. Sirius was positioned at Remus' head, James by the foot of his bed, and Peter sitting on the uncomfortable chair by James, clutching chocolate from Honeydukes. It was a well-known fact among the whole of the year that Remus Lupin loved chocolate, but the Marauders knew that Post-Moon Remus loved chocolate even more than Non-Moon Remus.
The pale boy stirred slowly and opened his eyes: Sirius saw the way he gripped at the bed sheets, indicating he was in pain, and gradually Remus' face scrunched up.
"Oweee." he moaned quietly, as his muscles flexed. "Moony hurt."
Sirius gently helped Remus up into a sitting position, and brushed the boy's tawny hair out of his eyes.
"You okay, Moony?"
The boy's face was still scrunched up.
"No, Moony hurt!"
His voice was slightly higher pitched than his usual voice, and his eyes were wide. There was something in his facial expression that indicated to his friends that he was in a child-like state of mind, like every time after the full moon. James smiled at Sirius in pity, knowing it was Sirius that was effected most by this (Remus clutched to Sirius more than the other Marauders when he was Post-Moon Moony), and Peter just looked uncomfortable.
Remus opened his arms up and kept opening and shutting his hands up, like a small child wanting to be picked up, motioning to Sirius. The boy felt sorrow well up in his chest, and opened his arms.
Remus, the sixteen year old boy, curled up into Sirius, looking up through his fringe and smiling widely before shifting his weight.
"Moony hurt."
"I know, Moony, it's okay. It'll go away soon." Sirius said simply, trying not to confuse Remus in his child-like state. James saw his queue to help Sirius out a little: grabbed a handful of chocolate from Peter's lap and put it on the bed. Remus' eyes lit up a little and he reached out to grab one. Sirius felt the boy's body tense up in pain, and pulled him closer into his hug.
"No Moony. I'll get it for you."
"Padfoot get it for me?"
"Yes, Moony." Sirius said, reaching for the chocolate. "Padfoot'll get it."
He handed a chocolate to Remus, who slowly unwrapped it and shoved it into his mouth in a toddler-ish manner, before chewing briefly and swallowing.
"I don't know how he doesn't get indigestion." Peter mumbled quietly, looking at Remus with pure pity in his small eyes.
"I never got indigestion as a kid, and I was like Moony." James said, making Peter laugh a little, but Sirius scowled, his face stony.
"It's not funny he's like this." he said, his voice low with hints of anger. "Not his fault at all."
"We know, Padfoot." James said, his voice edging on kindness that Peter had rarely seen. "We weren't taking the piss, honest." Peter frowned a little. James would have usually ripped Sirius to shreds when it came to defending himself, and Sirius would have shredded James too if it was the other way round, but this time, it was different. Whether it was the fact that James was tired from turning into the stag, or that he noticed Sirius' growing affection for Remus, Peter didn't know what it was…
Remus pushed more chocolate into his mouth.
"Moony feel sick." he said, turning slightly green. Within seconds, he'd vomited over the floor, and Sirius fought back the urge to laugh. He accio'd the mop to his hands, and handed it to Peter.
"There you go Wormtail. It'll give you something to do whilst James and I clean up Moony."
"Bastard." Peter huffed under his breath, hoping Sirius hadn't heard, and began mopping up the werewolf's puke.