After the first harvest moon in hogwarts since the boys found out about remusā āfurry little problemā remus had been in the hospital for over a week.
the moon had been stronger that month and remus couldnāt keep the wolf stable enough for the marauders to let him out into the forbidden forest, so heād stayed inside the shrieking shack and the wolf did not like that.
So he took it out on remus, whoād been so roughed up the next morning that the marauders couldnāt patch him up alone like they usually did, instead of taking him to Madame Pomfrey, because remus hated the infirmary or any hospitals in general.
James had begrudgingly carried him to the infirmary and Madame Pomfrey had taken him into intensive care immediately.
After a while sheād realised that the resources she had werenāt enough and had to move him into St Mungos.
Where heād been for 6 days runningā¦. 6 days 3 hours and 28 minutes but Sirius wasnāt counting.
For those 6 days 3 hours and 28 minutes Sirius hadnāt slept, nor had he visited remus. He just couldnāt, he couldnāt bring himself to walk into the room where remus was probably lying down, completely alone.
Whenever Remus was in the infirmary he requested the bed next to the window with the curtains open because he liked the sun to come in after spending so long in the dark.
And this time Sirius didnāt know if James made sure he got that bed, he didnāt know if he wouldāve remembered, but he couldnāt bring himself go ask or do it himself.
So, all he could think about for 6 days 3 hours and 28 minutes was how remus might not have the sun on him, the one thing he asked for because of him.
Its not like he didnāt not try, heād gotten permission from McGonagall and Dumbledore multiple times to go to hospital, but he still hadnāt been able to get to it.
I mean in his defence, he got sidetracked every time. He was totally gonna do it, but every single time but his friends needed him and he couldnāt let him down.
Which James would call āironicā to which sirius would say
āJamie, you donāt even know what that means, shut the fuck up.ā
The first time heād tried, the knight bus was late and heād seen Rosemerta at hogsmead and she needed help with shipment.
āShe really need some helping hands, James, I couldnāt go, do you remember how many times sheās slipped us fire whiskeyā
āSirius, she explicitly said she did NOT want your help. And we had to let the workers go overtime because you significantly slowed down the processā
The second time heād actually reached the hospital
ā Atleast I made it into the hospital this time, thats progress, prongsā
ā It rlly is notā
But this time he heard the receptionist talking about the gift shop and immediately realised that he couldnāt show up empty handed.
By the time heād asked for directions and reached the shop, it was closed. He couldnāt go empty handed now, so, heād just have to visit tomorrow and be in time for the gift shop to be open.
ā My mother always taught me never to show up empty handed, James.ā
ā Pads, your mother is crazy, why have you chosen now to listen to herā
ā Everyone has their vicesā
āWhat?!ā
āShut upā
The third time, he reached on time for the gift shop to be open but there were tooo many options, there were snow globes, teddies, t shirts.
So he had to have a long look and find the perfect thing because gift giving was not a laughing matter.
ā James, gift giving is not something to be taken lightly. When I still tolerated my mother I got her a perfume for Christmas, and what I meant by the gift was āmother, I literally dont know anything about you but you like expensive things so hereās this perfume.ā
but what she saw when she got the perfume what she saw was
ā here is some sex juice, I think youāre a prostitute and believe in the devil.ā
Which would now be true, but in that context was notā
āSirius, stop. Remus needs you to be there for him and youāre too scared to do that, but thats your problem. Why does remus have to be at the receiving end of you not being able to get you shit together enough to go visit him?
You need to fix whatever this is and go visit him because he needs you right now and itās your problem that youāre too scared to that not his. So fix it.
Your best friend is in the hospital and youāre here helping rosmerta stack up bottlesā
āIm trying but visiting someone int he hospital isnt as easy as you might thinkā
" don't you see what your doing your avoiding an unpleasant situationā
āI know but remus and I have always had this unspoken agreement that he doesnāt need our help or our empathy and weāre gonna treat him just like us not matter whatā
If I had to see him lying in the hospital bed hooked up to god knows what its hard to pretend nothings wrong, I just donāt know what to say.ā
āDon't make this about yourself, pads, sometimes all you have to do is be there for him. Now go to the hospital and show remus that you give a damnā
And that made so much sense and it made him hate James. But he was right.
So, the next day the knight bus was on time, the gift shop was open, he immediately bought the chocolate and cookies.
he had tunnel vision and nothing could stop him.
he got angrier as he was stomping around trying not to psych himself out. The aggressive walking and tunnel vision mixed with his angst about James being right steadily made him angrier as he approached remusā room.
He didnāt have to ask the receptionist, heād been here enough times to have memorised the room number and the directions to the room.
He just stormed past the reception looking for the room threw the door open with a āBANGā where he saw remus sitting up startled.
āLook whoās in the hospital Remus John Lupin. What a surprise. Well if you think I came here to feel sorry for you, you have another thing coming, because I didnāt feel sorry for you when you told us you were a werewolf, or the time you couldnāt go to class for a week after a bad moon, or the time you fainted in the bathroom, and Iām not gonna feel sorry for you now. Glad you didnāt die. See you when you get out."
and with that Sirius had turned and walked out
He had barely reached past the corridor when heād felt another bout of rage so he stormed right back into the room where remus was sitting upright like he somehow knew Sirius wasnāt done yet, watching him expectantly.
Ofcourse perfect remus always knowing exactly what Sirius was going to do like the stupidly perfect boyfriend he was, which only made him angrier,
āAND HERE'RE YOUR COOKIESā
he said tossing the pack of sweets towards remusā bed storming back out.
Now, sirius didnāt really know how remus reacted to that, all he knows is when remus came back to the dorms he kissed Sirius just like he always did in the morning and everything was back to normal.
But if heād stayed a little bit longer before storming off, heād see remus smiling to himself look at the patient in the bed beside his and say
āI told you heād comeā
taking a surprisingly cocky bite of his cookie.