Caught red handed

It was the night before full moon and Remus had been more absent lately. This evening he withdrew from the others, who were gathered in the common room, to have some time to himself.

As the others discussed how to cheer Remus up he was secretly sitting on his bed with a silver blade in his trembling hand.

He tensed up as the felt the cold, sharp silver on his arm. With every cut he was getting faster shivering at the sight of his own blood which was dripping down on a tissue, he placed underneath.

He froze when he heard a knock on the door. "Wait! Don't!" He tried to prevent the person from entering and seeing him like this but said person didn't listen.

"Remus, we are getting worried, do you want to join-" started James while opening the door. Behind him were Sirius and Lilly. Sirius pushed through James to see what's the matter then the two stopped as well.

The sight wasn't good. Remus trying to hide a bloody knife behind his back while being unable to remove his bleeding arm because of the tissue.

"Guys! I- I am sorry, I swear I didn't! It's not-" He tried to explain but there wasn't anything to turn pretty.

James, breaking his frantically grabbling for words, said, "Remus, we saw the knife. We know."

"Leave! Please!" Blurted Remus out. He was getting desperate and wanted nothing more than peace and time to himself to cope with his feelings.

Sirius, his eyes filled with concern, added, "We are absolutely not gonna leave you like this! Why didn't you tell us? You don't have to go through this alone. We're here for you."

Lily, her voice gentle, said, "There are other ways to cope, Remus. You don't have to hurt yourself."

Remus, overwhelmed by their care and understanding, nodded slowly. "I… I didn't want you to worry. I tried other ways believe me! But they just didn't work the way this works… "

"We have to clean the wounds Remus…" mumbled Lilly. "We can talk about ways to deal with it better afterwards."

"It's not that bad!" Said Remus trying to dismiss it while he frantically put the knife away and brushed the blood away with the tissues.

Lily, with a skeptical glance, gently insisted, "Let me see, Remus."

Remus gave up and went to the bathroom with her while the others stood in the doorway.

As Lily cleaned and patched up the wound, Remus winced slightly. Lily, focused and gentle, washed away the blood.

"Sorry…" whispered Remus. Lily's eyes softened with understanding, and she continued her care with a delicate touch. "Remus, hurting yourself isn't the answer although it might seem like that right now."

Remus, opening up about his self-harm, for the first time, explained, "It's the only thing that helps, Lily. The pain, it distracts me. I've tried other things, but nothing else works."

James and Sirius, who had been waiting nearby, joined the conversation. James spoke earnestly, "Remus, there must be other ways to cope. We're worried about you."

Sirius added, "Maybe talking to someone or finding a different outlet for your emotions could be better."

Remus, appreciative of their concern, sighed, "I've tried, really. But nothing quiets the storm like this does."

Sirius looked into Remus eyes with an intense care that Remus couldn't look away. "Promise me you'll try something, anything, else one more time." He asked him.

Remus nodded slowly. "I…I will…" he whispered. "Can I just lay down now?" He requested very quietly and beaten. James nodded and made way.

Remus pushed through them, got into his bed and closed the curtains with shaking hands.

A/N: This is written by myself again and I just wanted to thank you very much for the idea to write this. More stuff is going to come when you request something. Have a wonderful Christmas y'all! 3