Mischief Managed Year One: Mayhem of the Moon

Chapter Thirty-Three- Five Friend's Perspectives

TWs: Mentions of Past Traumatic Experiences and Deaths

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It shouldn't have surprised him to see Dumbledore there. But it did almost as much as it worried him not to see the twinkle of mischief he had come to expect to see in the old wizard's eyes. He offered Sirius a sad smile having come out of a little room Sirius swore hadn't been in the medical ward last time he was here.

"Hello, Mr. Black. I'm glad you have agreed to see Mr. Lupin. It will do him a world of help to hear from his friends right now."

Sirius nodded but couldn't deny he felt anxious. He had seen a lot of dead people before, but that was in funerals and they were all old geezers that had been as unpleasant as they had been wrinkled.

Remus was a child. Even though he was still alive, he was in a coma. So would he look dead? Sirius imagined scenarios of what state his friend was in, each more gruesome than the next. He found it very hard to move his feet and had come to a stop, staring at the room he knew Remus was in with apprehension.

"Mr. Black, I assure you that if Mr. Lupin was in a state not appropriate for growing minds that I wouldn't be letting you see him."

This brought a great deal of comfort indeed. Remus couldn't be that bad then...right? Sirius was a Black after all. Even if that meant more shame than pride most of the time, he held himself like one and strolled through the hospital wing like he owned the place.

Walked into the little room where his friend was as if he had the authority to demand Remus wake up and it would be as easy as that. His bravado fell though as he walked over and stood at Remus' bedside. Most of him was covered up in thick sheets which Sirius should have realized would be the case.

Was he gruesome underneath the sheets?

He wanted to check but Dumbledore was quite literally breathing down his neck, and he didn't want to get kicked out. Each step he took the headmaster mirrored it, shuffling behind him as if he didn't at all trust Sirius to be alone with Remus. It felt unbearably awkward. Remus looked like he was sleeping, his face a little bruised but peaceful looking.

"Is he in pain?" he forced himself to ask, assuring himself he must not be.

"No. Madame Pomfrey is very good at her job." Came the calm reassuring words of the headmaster. Sirius just stood there for a few more minutes feeling weird.

"You know, some believe that while in a coma the patient can hear everything going around them."

"Can...can he really hear us?"

"Mmmm, I believe so. I suppose we will have to ask him once he wakes up, now won't we?"

Hearing Dumbledore's vote of confidence did wonders to increase Sirius' hope.

"Well then, wake up you lousy wanker," Sirius grumbled to the sleeping boy. It felt weird having a one-sided conversation, though his interactions with Remus typically started this way. He noticed the seat positioned by Remus' bed and sat down, unsure what else to say.

It felt a little awkward talking to a person who sort of looked dead. He shifted in his seat, wondering what to say. Then he glanced at Dumbledore, wondering if he planned to leave. The headmaster wasn't looking at him though. Instead, he was staring at a gold pocket watch-looking thing, his expression impossible to decipher. Sirius saw his chance and lifted the sheets a bit. Remus had his hands and wrists bandaged up, which seemed weird as they weren't bleeding or anything.