"Hey."
Go away Remus!
"How you doing?"
How do you think I'm doing?
"No of course you're not- stupid question."
You don't say.
Okay, so I was in a bad mood, the whole floating through darkness thing was getting boring, and because everyone thought I couldn't hear them they were using me as some sort of spurting post. And by spurting post I mean an inanimate object that everyone uses to spurt their deepest darkest secrets at. Man, I was gonna have so much blackmail material when I woke up.
So I didn't really need Remus right just now.
"I've been doing some research."
Whoop-de-doo.
"And I know why you're not waking up."
Okay, I'm listening.
"It's because you're...Well...You and I...We're..." He cleared his throat. "Man I'm glad you can't move right now because you are going to hit me so hard...We-aren't-human-so-the-spell-works-differently-on-us."
What?
"I know you know what I am. I saw you that night too. Back in fourth year. You remember?"
No kidding, course I remember. I'd seen Remus, staggering, covered in blood that I later found out was his own. I remember wondering why he was here at school when his mother was so ill at home. I'd been so confused but then I'd worked it out.
It was so weird, I'd hidden away from him, convinced he wasn't my friend that had helped me with my transfiguration but a monster intent on savagery and bloodshed. I would cringe away from him when he passed me in the corridor, not meet his eye from the other side of the common room. I'm not proud of how I made him feel- in fact I hate myself for it.
It took me almost four months to get used to the fact that my best guy friend was a werewolf. Looking back I don't know why I was so prejudiced, Remus wasn't a monster he just had an ailment, rather like me really. I was such a hypocrite, was I with my freaky genes really in any position to be disparaging about something that wasn't his fault?
So I'd tried to stop and Remus, being so incredibly good, had forgiven my behaviour and included me again like we had gone back to how we used to be.
But we were never as close as we could have been.
Which was all my bloody fault.
"The reverse charm isn't working because you don't honestly want to wake up. That's the non-human part of you. You have to want to be human to wake up, something worth waking up for. Otherwise you'll slowly fade away and...Well...Die."
Wow, so this is all my fault now? But then again, did I want to wake up? Was Remus right? I loved school right? So why didn't I want to wake up?
The darkness felt a little warmer now, like water, the higher you rose. And then I broke the surface, gasping like I'd just swam a mile...into the light and weird smell of the Hospital Wing.
"YOU KNEW ABOUT THAT THE ENTIRE TIME?"
To say Remus didn't really have a thing for being assaulted by what he had thought was inanimate object was rather like saying Titanic didn't have a thing for icebergs. Then again I'd always secretly thought he had the depth of an inflatable kitty pool. Okay, that was Sirius but still...
"Good, you're awake. Now Sirius will stop bugging me to spend every waking second in the library madly researching cures for you."
"You spend every waking second in the library anyway."
"Trust me, this was extreme. Oh by the way, Lily's been collecting all your homework for you."
"I was sick, on the brink of death for all you knew! Don't I get a break for nearly dying?"
"Nope. But don't worry I'll help you with your Transfiguration."
Okay, so maybe we could become close again. And maybe, just maybe, we'd be stronger for it too. You need the downs to appreciate the ups, the dark makes you focus more on the light doesn't it?
"You drool when you sleep you know."
Okay, deep moment over.
I grinned and swung my legs over the edge of the bed, pulling myself to my feet and almost collapsing, before righting myself and walking, with a werewolf's (who more a man than anyone I knew) help to the door.
"Thanks Remus." I whispered, so softly he almost couldn't hear me. But he did, I could tell from his hand tightening around my waist and his slight chuckle.
Anyone listening would have assumed that I was thanking him for helping me walk but he knew better.
Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.
Too right!