The Losing One || Sirius Black

12. Bright Red and Gold

Sirius Black

Sundy, 5th September 1971.

Hogwarts

"Are you feeling okay, Remus?"

Sirius was looking at the tall boy sat on the edge of the bed, head in his hands. James and Peter had already gone down for breakfast, but the other two wanted to sleep in a bit.

When Sirius finally decided to leave his beautiful bed, Remus was still asleep, so he tried to wake the boy up, otherwise there will be no breakfast. It took a while, but in the end, he succeeded resulting in the current situation.

Not even bothering to lift his head, Remus sighed, "Yeah, just tired, I guess."

He did look a bit paler than normal to Sirius, maybe it was just some headache, "Do you need to go to the Hospital Wing? If your head hurts maybe school healer can give you some potion and—"

Remus finally managed to stand up, cutting him off while waving a dismissing hand, "Maybe later."

Sirius watched as the boy went inside the bathroom, legs wobbling a bit. He was concerned, but Remus seemed to not want to talk about it, like just Sirius' question annoyed him. After their prank on Snape, Remus seemed off for the whole rest of the day, but it looked just like he was tired. Now that he had a whole night to sleep, Sirius knew that tiredness wasn't the reason for the boy's exhaustion.

He looked carefully as Remus exited the bathroom. Eyes half shut, skin pale and barely standing, the boy started packing his bag.

It was still hot, but he was wearing long sleeve shirt. Yes, technically, they all were, but every student had their sleeves rolled up. Except Remus. Even when they didn't have to wear uniforms, he would always wear long sleeves while the rest were wearing T-shirts instead.

That little detail sparked the familiar curiousness in Sirius and before thinking about it, the question just escaped his lips, "Why do you have your sleeves rolled down? It's too hot.", this was the question that has been on his mind from the beginning, but he never found the perfect opportunity to ask about it until now.

Remus stilled for a second, then reaching for his bag he turned away, preventing Sirius to see and try to read his face expression, "I don't know, I'm always cold."

He didn't really buy that answer, but Sirius let it be. It wasn't his business after all, maybe it was something personal. He got worried for a second that he offended Remus by asking such question, but the tall boy turned to him with a smile and the two started their journey to the Great Hall.

Throughout the whole day Remus was cranky and ate like his stomach was a black hole, although the tiredness seemed to stick as well. They were all chilling underneath their tree, yes the tree was theirs now. Sirius and James had their eyes closed, enjoying the last sunny days they will be experiencing in months. Peter was trying to finish the painting of the Black Lake and Remus was reading his book.

With the sound of the book closing, a shadow spread across Sirius' face, "I think I'll go to the hospital."

He cracked one eye open, hands still behind his head and looked at the tall boy. Even now, after he had eaten breakfast and lunch, Remus was still looking sick and on the verge of his legs giving up, "Yeah, I think you should. Want me to walk you there, you seem a bit pale?"

Remus gave him another dismissing wave, "No need, I'll manage—"

But Sirius was already standing up, leaving his little paradise. Even though his friend didn't want the help, he just couldn't let the boy walk alone all the way to the hospital while looking like he was about to fall every three seconds, "Come on, I was planning on going back to the dorm either way."