#I took Remus making up wilder and wilder stories quite seriously

[neverenoughmarauders]

When we were up to no good

Chapter 39: Werewolf troubles

When the January full moon neared, Remus lied once more and said that his mother hadn't fully recovered yet from the illness over Christmas. By the time the February full moon arrived, Remus was starting run out of excuses. He couldn't continuously go home to see his mother. He could say he was ill, once more, but that had been the excuse he had used when they had travelled together on the Hogwarts Express before the start of term. What was left to him?

Somehow, he managed to drag himself through most of his classes the day of the full moon, fuelled as much by numb panic as Madam Pomfrey's potions. He had no idea what to say to his friends. Remus should have left himself more thinking time.

In Potions, the second to last lesson that Tuesday, he finally snapped and did something effective - but rather desperate. Pretending to stumble and fall, he caught the side of his cauldron and drenched himself in the half-finished potion.

The pain was acute, though not nearly as bad as what he was about to experience later that evening. It still hurt. He whimpered, and instinctively tried to wipe the potion off him. It felt like the gooey liquid was burning his skin.

This hadn't been a good plan. It was starting to hurt badly. Why had he done this? Another pained sound escaped him.

'Remus!'

'Shit, don't - just lie still mate, take it easy.'

'Professor! Do something! Help him!'

His friends voices were filled with concern, and while it took Professor Slughorn too long, the man managed to conjure a stretcher and get Remus up to the Hospital Wing.

'Professor Slughorn should have been able to do more for you!' Sirius complained as they all sat around Remus' bed a little later. The rest of the class had been cancelled. It seemed unlikely that Professor Slughorn would teach more that day.

'And had I fallen at any other time, he would have,' Remus said, feeling a need to defend their Potions professor who did indeed come out of this incident looking bad, when Remus had timed it so deliberately for his own purposes.

'It was just bad luck, that's all,' James said, still looking slightly shaken.

'It was awful luck,' Peter agreed.

'You do seem to be one of the unluckiest people I've met,' Sirius said, frowning.

Don't think too much about it, Remus prayed. But when had anyone ever listened to his prayers?

'Yeah, do us all a favour and place a bet on Ravenclaw winning the match,' James said, 'you never know, it could help.'

Madam Pomfrey had been able to heal him almost as soon as he arrived, and she had played along and told the others Remus had to stay a couple of nights. But her disapproval was palpable.

'Your body is going through enough as it is young man!' she said sternly as soon as the others had left. And he couldn't exactly disagree with her on that point.

Rest of the chapter