𝐉𝐈𝐆𝐒𝐀𝐖

Chapter 24

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Chapter Twenty-Four:

To the Rhythm of a Heartbeat

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Interlude Four:

Lupin moaned as he woke up. Everything hurt, so he moaned a little louder and tried to get out of his bed. Only he wasn't on a bed, he was in a sleeping bag, wrapped in blankets. He was nearly naked and he felt dirty and disgusting.

"Remus, are you okay?"

Lupin tried to look up, but everything in his vision swam around. He couldn't see anything, really. He thought he heard Sirius's voice. He felt strong arms around him, wrapping him tighter in the blankets. Lupin realized his face was very cold. Sirius's arms grew tighter, inadvertently choking him. Lupin gurgled in protest.

"He's not talking. Contessa, why isn't he talking?" Sirius said tearfully. The concern in Sirius's voice would have been touching if only Lupin could breathe. He tried to struggle, but he was too weak.

"Because you're choking him, nobhead. Get away from him and let me have a look."

That was definitely Contessa's voice. There was only one other person who could pull off condescension so well--and that was Snape. Sirius let Lupin go, for which he was grateful. Breathing was a highly underrated activity.

Lupin could feel Contessa's cold fingers touch him--checking his pulse, checking on his wounds, checking on his breathing. She fed him something disgusting, but he wasn't stupid enough to resist. He swallowed the foul liquid, hoping she hadn't poisoned it.

"Remus? Are you okay?" Sirius asked again, touching his face. His fingers were noticeably warmer than Contessa's.

Lupin gurgled another response, finding that like his vision, he hadn't recovered his powers of speech. He felt very cold all of a sudden and realized that someone was stripping off his blankets and even his underwear. He tried to struggle but all he did was flop weakly.

"What are you doing?" Sirius demanded.

"Cleaning him. He's covered in sweat, blood, and God only knows what else. He'll get an infection," Contessa said smoothly. "What? Did you think I was going to have a go with him? He's half-dead."

"Of course, I should have known. You probably prefer the fully dead."

"At least I don't start panting when the neighbor's dog goes into heat. I'm surprised you weren't humping the banister in excitement last week."

"I brought the hot water and the soap," came a droll voice, cutting Sirius off before he was able to retort.

That was Snape's voice. Wonderful. There were few things more embarrassing than realizing you're naked in front of the most sarcastic man ever born. Lupin would have protested, but he was still limited to gurgling.

"Are you feeling better?" Contessa asked.

"I'm fine. I just needed rest. It's very difficult to make Portkeys traveling across the globe," Snape snapped. So that's how they got here.

"Moony, we have got to get you a tan," Sirius commented. Then Lupin realized he was naked in front of Sirius and that made it worse.

Then Lupin felt much better. Contessa was sponging all the ick off him, and she was using the hot water Snape brought so it wasn't so damn cold. He could hear Snape cleaning his blankets and was grateful for that, too. He couldn't stand being dirty.