Four To The End (prev Shifting Lines) - Book One (Marauder Era)

Chapter Thirty-Eight - Bloody Tears

It came to no surprise when Remus had nightmares that night. The first one was his own execution and all the audience resembled Sirius. He was there too, front row, looking around five years old. When the ax struck Remus's neck, he woke up with tears streaming down his face as he screamed. When a hand grabbed his arm, he lashed out, smacking hard against Sirius's face. The real Sirius, twelve, looking super anxious.

"DAMN IT!" Spinnet yelled, throwing a pillow across the room at Remus's bed.

"Sorry!" Remus wiped his face, apologizing for the screams as well as hitting Sirius. "Sorry, I d-d-didn't mean..."

"You sounded even worse than usual," Sirius said, hand still gripping Remus's arm even after being hit. Behind him stood James and Peter, both of them appearing to be worried too.

"Hopefully your return to Saint Mungo's this holiday helps stop the problem," Spinnet growled.

Sirius made a rude gesture in his direction then turned back to Remus. "I'll b-be okay," Remus said, pushing Sirius's hand off of him. "Sorry."

Finally his dormmates went back to their beds, back to sleep. Remus gave a look out the window at the nearly full moon, then curled back up, fighting off sleep until he couldn't anymore. Unfortunately... he had another nightmare, dragging him from sleep. Not with screams this time but loud pleas. "NO! NO! PLEASE! NO!" over and over and over. Spinnet was beyond furious, looking like he wanted to throttle Remus. Sirius stood between them while James actually got into Remus's bed, putting an arm around him in a protective manner. Peter hesitated then sat down on Remus's bed too.

Spinnet's eyes darted between the three of them, finally on Sirius. "He wakes me up one more time I am going to McGonagall."

"He can't help it," Struthers said and Spinnet looked a little betrayed but not enough to stop his threats.

"This is the second time tonight!" he snarled, pointing at Remus. "It's not normal. I have nightmares too, you bet I don't wake everyone up screaming like the room's on fire! None of you do! Only one of us wakes the rest of us up." His eyes raked over Remus accusingly. James's arm tightened a bit, as if he could protect Remus from Spinnet's words. "Lunatic."

"St-stop ca-c-c-calling me that," Remus sniffled. "Puh--p--please."

Spinnet just gaped at Remus who never stood up for himself like that before, as pathetic an attempt as it was. "Right." Spinnet was at loss for words now. "Er. Well. Once more, McGonagall. I swear I will."

Spinnet returned to his bed. Struthers was still watching Remus. "Are you all right?" he asked and Remus shrugged. He had nothing against Struthers, except for the fact he was Spinnet's friend. "Okay. Uh. Well. G'nite."

Once their curtains were shut, Sirius, James, and Peter finally turned their full attention to Remus. Sirius knelt on the bed at Remus's feet. He hated that all three of them were on his bed, glad that at least they were all on one side and not surrounding him because he knew he'd flip out if he felt caged in. He could feel the moon through the window, feel how round it was getting, how much it pulled at him. It shone down on Remus's bed, and also revealed a bruise on Sirius's cheek from where Remus had smacked him earlier. He felt incredibly guilty, also relieved that he hadn't scratched at Sirius or anything like that.

They sat with him for quite a while until one by one they returned to their own beds. Peter first, at two-fifteen, then James at two-twenty-five, and finally Sirius at two-forty, only leaving because Remus yawned, insisting he couldn't stay awake any longer which was a lie. He didn't return to sleep until about an hour later, and had more nightmares though they were hazy and didn't bring any scream or shouts. He didn't wake up again until the alarms went off in the morning.