Descend - Wolfstar + Marauders

Withdrawal

Remus sat alone in the spare room, unable to distinguish the nausea of his early withdrawal symptoms from that of his anxiety. He was grateful when Dorcas insisted on speaking to him privately. Itemizing his habits, what he was taking, how much, how long, it had been brutal to see it all laid out on parchment. He didn’t need an audience for that.

She’d given him a worried look as she read through the list, but quickly buried it beneath a sympathetic smile.

She invited him to come with her to talk to the others as they came up with a plan of action. He declined.

“You can all decide whatever you want. I’ll do it. I don’t care.”

She nodded. He’d been quite petulant when they’d insisted he take a potion to sober up when he first arrived. She could tell he was still embarrassed by his behavior.

“It’s not the heroin I’m worried about. Long term, sure, that’s probably his biggest issue, but right now not so much. Opiate withdrawal is unpleasant, but it’s not going to kill him. If it was just that then I wouldn’t be concerned.”

“Well what, then?” asked Sirius, arms folded tightly across his chest as he sat perched on the arm of the couch.

“He’s been taking benzos. Most days, for a long time. Even more consistently than the opiates,” explained Dorcas. She sighed when everyone looked at her questioningly. “It’s a depressant. It’s a quiet drug. Doesn’t have a dramatic high or hard come down, so people don’t always realize what it’s doing to them. They get hooked without noticing. He said it’s just been to ease his anxiety and help him sleep. He didn't say so, but I suspect it probably helped a lot with his withdrawal symptoms in between fixes. Point is, there’s no way he hasn’t developed some kind of dependence with the amount he’s been taking.” She left out that he'd also been using a not insignificant amount of amphetamines. Again, not her biggest worry in the short term.

“How bad is this, Dory?” asked Lily.

“It’ll take the right potions and care, but we can manage. He’s going to have a rough time of it, though. This puts him at higher risk for seizures. He shouldn’t be left alone for at least the next week. At all.”

“Oh great, so everyone gets a turn babysitting the junkie.”

“Stop calling yourself that,” said Sirius, stroking a hand through Remus’ hair. “And stop being so dramatic. It’s not condescending of us to want to make sure you don’t have a fucking seizure.”

Sirius sat against the headboard, Remus curled up on the bed, head in his lap. He could feel the tremor running through his whole body.

“It’s so stupid. I don’t even really care about the benzos. I could take it or leave it, you know? It was just easy, like background noise,” he moaned. “I could try to taper off slowly. I’ve done that before; I can do it again. Maybe this whole thing was a foolish idea,” Remus suggested halfheartedly.

“How’s that worked out for you so far?”

“I haven’t had a drink in months,” he said defensively.

“Good thing too, you should have heard what Dory had to say about quitting alcohol cold turkey. That’s a term I just learned, by the way. Cold turkey. No idea what it means. I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen a live turkey in person. Had an aunt who bred peacocks for show, though. Temperamental little bastards,” Sirius said idly.

Remus stared up at him incredulously.

“Every now and then I forget how absurd your family is, then you say things like that in your posh little voice and all the leather, piercings, and tattoos in the world can’t cover up the fact that you were a rich kid.”