Ten Galleons To McGonagall

Wounds And Worries

Madam Pomfrey carried Remus out of the Shrieking Shack and into the hospital wing. She put him into bed and began to check him for wounds. There were a few cuts and scratchers which was normal, but there was a huge gash down his left side. He was losing a lot of blood.

Werewolf wounds were tricky. Sometimes magic could fix them, other times it wouldn't. Unfortunately spells and potions were not working this time. Remus was going to have to heal the muggle way meaning Madam Pomfrey had to stop the blood quickly. Remus was already pale.

As she began working, she heard the sound of hundreds of kids hurrying to breakfast. Suddenly, the door burst open and Sirius, James, and Peter burst inside.

"Is he okay? Is he going to be okay?" Sirius stood gasping as he looked at the unconscious boy.

"He will be if you three leave and let me work. But it'll be a long painful healing process. Get food. Go to class. Come check on him later. I need to work."

She sounded so firm and serious that they didn't even try to argue. Peter followed James with Sirius trailing behind. They sat down in the great hall. Peter and James started eating but Sirius wasn't hungry. He anxiously drummed his fingers on the table, glancing nervously at James and the rest of the students.

"You okay, Padfoot?" James asked, noticing his friend's nervousness.

"He's gonna be okay. He's gotta be okay. It's my fault. It's my fault," Sirius replied, which wasn't really an answer, more of an explanation of why he wasn't.

"It's not your fault. Why do you think that?" James asked.

"I was pushing him into the cave and he got hurt while I was doing it and so it's my fault and he lost a lot of blood and he's gotta be okay, right?" Sirius said anxiously.

"Hey, Padfoot, it's not your fault it could have happened to anyone," James said "Here. Take the invisibility cloak and hang out in the hospital wing until Pomfrey leaves and then you can watch over him. You're too jittery to get any school work done right now, and that tapping will annoy the pants off Flitwick. I'll take notes for you."

Sirius muttered his thanks and then took the cloak and sped off back to the hospital wing. He got to the entrance, threw on the cloak, and waited for someone to come in or out. He didn't have to wait long. At a school with hundreds of magical kids, accidents were quite common. Soon a third year boy with large purple warts entered the hospital wing accompanied by a friend who looked torn between concern and laughter. Sirius slipped in behind them.

He saw Remus on the bed. Madam Pomfrey had bandages his wounds and he was asleep. Sirius went over to his bed and sat down on the chair next to it. He watched as Remus's chest rose and fell with every breath. He seemed to be breathing okay, which was a good sign.

Madam Pomfrey had finished with the third year's purple warts. It was a simple spell to reverse the damage. She then turned her attention back on Remus. She seemed to be trying to magically heal them again, although she still wasn't having any luck. Sirius watched, invisible, as she worked.

Finally, she seemed to decide that magically healing Remus wouldn't work and left. She entered her office and closed the door behind her.

Sirius slipped off the invisibility cloak. He inched closer to the sleeping boy and placed his hand on Remus's. "Remus." It was one word but it seemed to carry the weight of the world in it. It rang with worry and love and hope and fear and the thousands of other things that Sirius was feeling while looking at the injured boy. Remus made a moaning sound and shifted slightly but remained asleep. Sirius looked at him, looked around the rest of the empty hospital wing and at Madam Pomfrey's closed door. And then he began to speak.

"Remus. I don't know how to start this it where I'm going with this and it's just a bad idea all the way around but I sort of did this with James and it worked out but this is different and I want to tell you but I also do not because it would complicate everything and this isn't making any sense but it doesn't need to as no one is actually listening which is good because I don't actually want anyone to know. Well James does but that was an accident. Also if you are really awake right now please tell me."

Sirius paused. When Remus didn't react, he continued his long winded rambling.

"See, I don't want to tell you when you're awake because not only would I hate to be rejected, it would also be bad if you didn't reject me because then we would probably end up dating and that would just completely mess up the dynamic of the Marauders. I mean right now it's four friends. But if we started dating, well, then it would be two guys who were together and their two friends and that would be so awkward. Also if we broke up, which is likely considering I haven't dated anyone for more than two weeks and three days, although that was because they were girls and you being a boy would probably have a different result, that would mess everything up. James and Peter would have to chose a side and we wouldn't speak to each other again and I don't want to risk that so that's why I'm not telling you while you're awake."

Sirius paused to catch his breath.

"So where I'm going with all this is that I'm in love with you. And you are so amazing and I've felt like this since fifth year and man, you just make me crazy. In a good way of course. That's what I want you to know."

As he finished his speech and relaxed, he heard the bell and the sounds of students leaving their first class. He stood up to leave as Peter and James entered the room.

"All better, mate?" James asked.

They made their way out of the hospital wing and to the dungeons for potions. James noticed that Sirius was calmer. That was good. The last thing they needed was for Sirius to knock over a potion they were working on with his jumps and twitches. They arrived in the classroom and settlers down just as Slughorn entered and began to teach.

Meanwhile, in the hospital wing, Remus Lupin's eyes flew open, his mind reeling from what he had heard.