The Marauders: Year Three | #Wattys2016

The Night of the Full Moon

The Night of the Full Moon

The end of February came and went with Peter still absent from the dorm. March rolled in with biting cold wind and ice, but no snow so that when the sun rose during the days everything was wet and slick outside and everyone stayed indoors. Because Peter was still gone for the first few days of the new month, Sirius and James reconstructed the plan for Remus's birthday, which basically meant a good deal of the work fell upon James's shoulders, since Sirius would be gone to the Shrieking Shack.

The night before the full moon, Sirius woke in the middle of the night to the sound of Remus groaning and whimpering in his bed. He hurried across the room to see what was the matter and Remus was curled up, scratching at his legs with his fingertips, the rings around his eyes darker than ever. "What's the matter?" Sirius asked, kneeling beside the bed so he was looking into Remus's face. "What can I do?"

"It's my bones! They hurt," he moaned, "They feel like they're stretching, and they're stretching me to death."

"What can I do? Anything?" Sirius asked.

"The aconite," begged Remus.

So Sirius ran and made him a cup of aconite tea by the fireplace downstairs and brought to back to the dormitory. As Remus sat up to drink it in the dark, Sirius climbed onto the bed and rubbed his shins and knees, trying to relieve some of the pain by massaging it out the best he could. He stayed there the rest of the night, whispering words of comfort as Remus rocked himself to sleep, biting onto a pillow to keep from yelling out, tears leaking from his tightly screwed eyes.

When he'd fallen asleep at last, and his face finally relaxed from the wince he'd been wearing all night, Sirius breathed in relief. "I'm sorry, Rey," Sirius said thickly, running his fingers along Remus's forehead, pushing back the curls, wishing he could take the pain away from him, wishing it was him instead that lay cringing in pain and it was Remus who was strong and safe. He didn't know what it was about this boy that made him feel so damn protective...

Next morning, Sirius was exhausted and he stumbled along silently behind the other two from class to class, his skin sallow and bleary. He fell asleep in Transfiguration, which probably should have earned him a detention, but when McGonagall went to wake him, Remus said, "Please, Professor... please let him sleep..."

She looked sharply at Remus, "He is in class," she said, "Classes are not for sleeping."

"But he was up all night," Rey said.

"He should have thought better of that!" she said.

"It wasn't his fault, Professor," Remus explained and he fabricated quickly, "I... had a nightmare. All this worrying about Peter Pettigrew... It's made me think about my mum and... well, Sirius stayed up all night to comfort me." None of it was a lie, really, just an omission of the pain the full moon had brought to his joints.

McGonagall had hesitated, then turned away from Sirius's snoozing form with a slightly sour expression, and she looked at James for the answer to the question she'd meant for Sirius to answer.

That afternoon, they left for the Shrieking Shack, a bit more pep to Sirius's step now that he'd had a bit of a nap. "I'll understand if you want to stay in the dorm tonight," Remus said as Sirius followed him down the stairs, "I reckon you'd like a good night's sleep and you certainly aren't going to get that out with me."

"Sleep shmeep," Sirius said, waving his hand dismissively. "I'd much rather keep you gnawing off your own skin! I'd only lose more sleep if you ended up in the ruddy hospital wing again. That bloody seat Pomfrey's got in there is anything but soft!"