Chapter 6
Remus woke up with a pounding headache and every inch of his body aching. Every day of the full moon, all of Remus' senses became overwhelming. Moonlight's soft purring sounded like an old motor obnoxiously running. The early soft glow of sunlight blinded his eyesight like he was looking directly into the sun. Worst off were the smells. He could smell the probably mild body odor coming from each boy's bodies and it smelt like a pile of dirty socks were under his nose. He flipped on his stomach and smothered his head with his pillow and fell back asleep. 30 minutes later Peter gently tapped his shoulder and said his name.
"What?!" Remus snapped and yelled. He scared Peter and he jumped back. Peter looked at his feet and said "Sorry for waking you, but you should get up and come to breakfast with us. He looked over at Sirius and James waiting in the doorway, stunned. Remus sat up and rubbed his head. "I'm sorry guys, I have a really bad sinus headache, I think I'm really sick today."
"It's alright, do you want to skip breakfast?" James asked?
"No! Are you kidding me, I'm starving. Let me just get dressed. And I'll join you." Remus said faking a good attitude.
At breakfast, Remus had a strangely particular appetite for meat. He ate six sticks of bacon, four sausages, salmon, and even steak and eggs. His friends noticed this and were concerned.
"Hey Remus, you like meat today?"
"Yeah, what's your problem? Are you going to finish that?" Remus replied to Sirius about his ham.
"Go for it." Sirius cautiously said. "Hey James and Peter, can I talk to you for a second over there?" The boys followed him. Remus' sensitive hearing easily picked up the conversation.
"Remus is acting very strange today." Sirius said.
"Trust me, we noticed" Peter said.
"He's so moody and I swear he ate the kitchen's supply of meat." James said.
"He said he had a migraine, maybe meat is his comfort food." Said Sirius.
"Sure, yeah that makes the most sense." James said.
"Just be very nice to him today, he's so irritable." Peter added. The boys walked back to their friend.
I can't let them know that I am different today. "Hi guys, you're all so wonderful, you know what I could go for right now, an apple." He took a big bite of a ruby red apple. His wolf tastebuds hated the taste and wanted to throw up, but he smiled and said "Delicious! Ready for class?" He said being overly peppy. His friends nodded in confusion and walked behind him to class. Nice going Remus, now they definitely don't know something's up.
In charms, Remus had another wave of an extreme sensory overload. Remus couldn't focus on the professor's voice, only the agonizing scratching of quills while students were writing. When Lily noticed Remus twitching she asked him if he was okay. He quickly and bitterly said "I'm fine, I'm fine." She got the clue to leave him alone after that.
In transfigurations Remus couldn't concentrate either. While trying to do a spell that was supposed to transform a teacup into a saucer, Remus couldn't get it for the life of him. Even Peter got it, and he was the worst in the class. In frustration, Remus instinctively swatted the teacup to the ground, shattering it. The sound sounded like a train crash and Remus covered his ears with his hands and gave a small yelp. The entire class, excluding McGonagall, looked to him in perplexity. Remus was the most mild mannered student in Hogwarts. McGonagall recognized the symptoms right away.
"Mr. Lupin"
Remus looked up in horror of what he had done. He'll never be viewed as normal again. "You have an extreme migraine disorder, correct." She nonverbally gave him the cue to play along. He nodded. "Class every sensation, every noise, every light when you have an extreme migraine disorder is 100 times more extreme. Mr. Lupin, please escort yourself to the infirmary, you are excused from the rest of your classes for the rest of the day and until you get better."
"Thanks, mam." Lupin walked quickly to the hospital wing. Back in the classroom, his concerned friends asked.
"Can we please go check on him?" Sirius asked.
"No! Mr. Black, you and Mr. Lupin's other friends must realize that the last thing he needs is more noise or distractions. You may not visit him until I say he is ready to be visited. Understand?" McGonagall asked.
The class responded "Yes, Professor."
As the hours neared to sunset, Lupin's condition became worse. He could start to feel each bone in his body preparing to transform each sensation being excruciatingly painful. At 6:30, Professor Mcgonagall collected Lupin and brought him outside. She brought him to the back of the school where the whomping willow resided. He watched with a blanket over his body and hands over his ears his Professor calm the wild tree to a halt by touching a spot on it's trunk. She then showed him a small hole in the tree and climbed in with him. The tunnel under the tree was tall and comfortable to walk in. They walked 50 steps until they reached a heavy duty door. She used an old looking key to open it. Inside was a room with a metal safe and a pillow and a blanket.
"Alright Mr. Lupin, tonight, you will transform here. I will come get you in the morning and we will walk back to the hospital wing. You can put your clothing and other valuables in that safe. I'm deeply sorry that you have to go through this every month." She walked out and locked the door. Lupin slowly unbuttoned his robes, put them gently in the safe and waited for the transformation to take place.