Chapter Text
Day one
"Ow." Remus groaned from where he lay in the darkness of the alcove deep under the castle, trapped in the Slytherin dungeons.
But his effort to make a sound was useless. No one could hear him, or more like he couldn't make any sounds. He had gotten a Petrificus Totalus spell aimed at him well before he was dragged over to lie hidden in the dark alcove on the damp stone floor.
The stone tiles were so cold Remus wanted to scream but it wouldn't do any good even to try to make a sound. Every muscle in his body was locked and the only thing he could do was to desperately move his eyes from one side to another as he with his very last ounce of emery tried to make his body obey him.
The freezing cold easily seeped through his clothes and froze him into the very marrow of his bones. He couldn't even shudder to try to keep warm. Remus mentally sighed when he realized that he was probably going to freeze to death tonight.
He now felt stupid for having left his three friends in the Great Hall after dinner. Remus had told them he had to pick up a book in the library which he would need for his essay on the accio-spell and after receiving approving nods from his three friends he had then begun walking towards the library.
Totally lost in his thoughts he had not heard the approaching footsteps coming towards him from every angle. Out of nowhere he felt himself being ambushed by a group of bigger students that pushed him to lay crouched on the ground. Remus had dared a glance through his fringe and noted that his ambushers were all older Slytherins. Defeated he realized that Rosier, Crouch, Avery and Snape only was a couple of them.
A great amount of punches, kicks and blood later Remus found himself laying hidden in the darkness of the alcove. He had fought back for the best he could but since he ambush had surprised him he hadn't had any time to pick up his wand from his pocket and even though he would have to admit to being a good fighter he would be in the down position without his wand.
If Remus would guess he would say that he had been stuck here for about one hour, although he could not be certain since it was pitch black in the alcove. The smell of mold made him want to vomit but even that was impossible due to the Perificus Totalus.
Remus had no other choice but to pray that his three friends soon would find him missing and then proceed to search for him on the map, but he had waited for his friends to find him for over an hour already and now his hope begun to falter. When he thought back to it he had heard James say something about 'Quidditch Practice' at dinner, and the Remus remembered that Peter had said something about 'Taking a quick detour to Honeydukes'.
Remus hope faltered even more when he thought back to what Sirius had told them at dinner. He now remembered watching Sirius lean back in his chair as he not-so-subtle winked to a passing Hufflepuff fifth year before he turned his attention back to his friends to tell that he was going to 'Find her later.'
Remus felt his heart ache, not seeming to care about his petrified state. Remus almost wanted to cry when he thought about Sirius flirting with others. That stupid sod had yet to realize that Remus had been head over heels for him for the past year.
Remus mentally slapped himself when he felt himself hope for Sirius to like him back, but he couldn't help it. Sure, a part of him had given up months back but there was still a part of him that stopped him from giving up and provided him with hope when it all felt hopeless.
He hadn't told anyone about his secret crush, not even his kind and understanding muggle-born friends Lily. Although Remus would refrain from letting her in on any more secrets at the time being seeing as she just recently figured out his werewolf situation.
He felt his body temperature sink by the minute and his head felt dizzy. By now James was probably enjoying a nice ride on his broom, Peter was sneaking heaps of candy into his bag and Sirius probably had his tongue down that Hufflepuff girls' throat. Ugh, now Remus really had to vomit.
As Remus lay there on the cold stone floor he felt his body stop freezing and his eyelids slowly started to clasp shut. With a disbelieving mental sigh he ironically thought that he had pictured his life ending many ways, but laying Petrified on the dark floor in a dark alcove was not one of them. Oh, life really seemed to hate him.
~
He felt his eyelids snap open. Shocked he tried to move his body, wondering where he was, but then he remembered what had happened and where he was. Apparently he had managed to take some sort of uncomfortable nap, or well maybe it wasn't that odd after all considering there wasn't anything else to do but to lie still and be silent.
Remus felt his stomach itch from one of his bleeding wounds but he couldn't reach down to scratch it. Damn, if it was one thing that could possibly make this situation worse was that his bruises were to start itching.
Almost going mad with frustrated thoughts he missed the sounds of padding feet just outside the alcove. Remus felt himself mentally startle when he heard the low sound of whispering voices, but then he realized that that must have been what had woken him up just moments ago.
Remus strained his ears and was for once happy about his heightened werewolf-senses as he managed to make out a sentence from the mumbling voices in the corridor outside.
"The Map says he's right over here,"
"Where? I can't see him."
"Ouch! You stepped on my foot-"
"Shhh, keep quiet Wormtail."
Remus felt his heart almost beat out of his chest when he realized whom the voices belonged to. He desperately turned his eyes from side to side as he tried his very hardest to make any kind of sound, and he finally felt the Petrificus Totalus start to loosen its grip on him.
"Mmmhhm!" He managed to squeak through closed lips.
"Shhh, did you hear that?" Sirius asked.
"Hear what?" Peter whispered.
"I swear I heard something coming from that dark alcove over there."
"Do you think it's Moony?" James asked sounding shocked.
When Remus heard the footsteps coming close he made another muffled sound and then he felt like he could shout from joy when he saw Sirius lean down to rescue him.
"Moony!" He almost shouted, but trailed off when his eyes caught sight of Remus' condition.
"Merlin, wha-, who did this to you?" He demanded suddenly looking furious.
Remus simply lowered his gaze to refrain from having to look him in the eyes. He wondered how long it would take from them to realize that he had been petrified.
Remus could hear James and Peter mumble something to each other but couldn't see them. He realized that they were hidden under James' invincibility cloak, and that they probably had covered themselves in it all three as they made their way down to the Slytherin dungeons.
Remus watched James appear from the cloak as he reached over to pat Sirius on the shoulder.
"Calm down Padfoot, I think we'll skip the questions for later and focus on getting him back to our dorm instead, alright?" He furrowed his brows when he turned his vision from Sirius and back to Remus who now had closed his eyelids again. He was out of energy and it felt like he had been laying there for the majority of his life already.
"I agree with Prongs," They heard Peter pipe from somewhere hidden underneath the cloak." and I think he's been hit by a Petrificus Totalus." Peter exclaimed as Remus heard him walking closer to them.
Not opening his eyes Remus heard Sirius swear under his breath. When James whispered a steady 'Finite Incantatem' Remus finally felt his muscles coming to life and with a loud groan he made to stand up. However he ended up crouching on the floor, his hands around his stomach as he started shivering madly. Through loud coughs Remus felt the pain from his wounds come to life and consequenses from hours of pain made itself remained when his entire body ached, both from the freezing cold and from having to lay down on the hard stone floor.
"Moony are you alright?" He heard Sirius whisper as he had crouched down to pat him on his back. "I'm sorry we didn't come sooner..." He trailed of when he heard Remus give a particular high cough.
Remus opened his eyelids some and through the corner of his eyes he saw James bring the Marauder's Map to the light under his lit wand and begin to search it for bypassing students.
"I don't mean to stress you or anything, but Professor Slughorn is heading this way and unless we want to get caught we need to hurry up." James told them in a hushed whisper. He then flicked the light off his wand and then opened the invincibility cloak, stepped inside and disappeared in it somewhere next to Peter.
Remus tried his best to stop coughing but it just wouldn't stop. His body shook violently from the effort and from the shivering cold. He was just about to tell them to head back without him, that he would have to take the punishment from Slughorn, when he felt Sirius swipe a hand up and down his back.
"Can you stand?" He asked when he leaned in to get a better look at Remus' significantly pale and blood smeared face.
"I- I think so." Remus managed to squeak, voice hoarse from the coughing.
"Hurry up, Slughorn is just around the corner!" They heard James shout in another hushed whisper, this time noticeable closer to the alcove as they got ready to open up the cloak for Remus and Sirius.
Remus steadied himself on Sirius steady frame as he slowly begun to rise up from the stone floor. He felt immensely relieved for finally being able to leave the damp, mold smelling ground, but his happiness didn't last long since he almost instantly felt his insides scream in pain as he moved his body faster than he had for hours.
"Oww..." He groaned when his feet reached the surface on the ground.
"Take it easy Moony, you can lean on me. Yes, like that, exactly..." Remus heard Sirius murmur close by. Remus did not complain when he felt Sirius strong arms wrap around him and simply sighed as he leaned in to steady himself on him.
Together then begun to stagger out of the alcove and into the corridor. There they were almost instantly securely wrapped inside the invincibility cloak that felt a bit crowded since it already was occupied by James and Peter, but Remus didn't complain. He had finally been found and he would soon be back in his warm bed in their dorm.
"Shhh, there he is!" Remus heard Peter pipe up from somewhere behind him, uncomfortably close to his neck.
They all froze at the spot where they stood hidden underneath the cloak, pressed up against the nearest wall. They watched professor Slughorn pass them, humming on an old tune while he patted himself on his belly.
Remus body slowly stopped shivering as he leaned in to the heat radiating from Sirius' body. The invincibility cloak was starting to feel too crowded with the four of them, since they were all starting to grow fast now in their fourth years, but Remus' didn't mind the close proximity to Sirius. Now he had an excuse to press back onto him, blaming his closeness on his unsteady legs and cold limbs. Remus's body still hurt all over from the punches and kicks by the bullies, but the pain felt more bearable under the cloak with his friends.
He felt his eyelids drift close again and then everything went black.
~
"I think he woke up!"
"Are you sure? You've said that six times already."
"Moony? Moony! Can you hear me?"
Remus let out a low groan as he test reached his arms from the sides of his body, trying to take in his surroundings. Not opening his eyes he felt around him and realized that he lay in a bed. The pillow underneath his head and bedsheet covering his body now made more sense.
He took a deep breath but then felt his heart make an uncomfortable twist. He was in the hospital wing. He was sure of it now that he smelt the strong scent of cleaning supplies and potions, and now that he thought about it this bed lacked the soft smell of chocolate that always seemed to linger around his own bed.
He was just about to open his eyes when he felt a hand close around his own. When he recognized the warm, strong hand as Sirius' he felt the butterflies in his stomach come to life. With a small smile tugging at his lips he let his eyelids snap open.
"Moony!" Sirius beamed as they quickly made eye contact with each other. Remus saw worry linger in Sirius' grey eyes as he sat down next to him on the bed, never letting go of his hand once.
When Remus glanced over Sirius' shoulder he saw that James and Peter sat around his hospital bed on chairs that looked extremely uncomfortable. Peter gave him a careful wave with his hand and James an encouraging nod. Remus felt Sirius tug at his hand and turned his attention back to him.
"What happened?" Remus croaked, his voice hoarse, but from sleep or exhaustion he did not know.
Sirius shared a look with James before he answered.
"How much do you remember?" He started.
"Ehm," Remus closed his eyes as he searched his brain for some kind of memory of the past couple of hours. "that you found me in the alcove. But then my memory is kind of fuzzy." He finished with a frown. He really didn't like memory gaps, it reminded him too much of the night of the full moon.
Sirius shared another look with James before James asked "Maybe you should give him the long explanation?"
Sirius nodded and turned his attention back to Remus, looking concerned.
"After you went off after dinner we all kind of walked away to do our own thing." He gave Remus an apologetic look. "When we all returned to the common room a couple of hours later we noticed that you were absent but thought that perhaps you had walked into Lily or something," He turned his gaze away from Remus eyes and looked down at his lap. "but when Lily walked through the portrait whole alone we got worried. We asked her if she'd seen you bet she told us she hadn't."
"Then Peter suggested that we should look it up on the Map, so we headed up to the dorm to check. After retrieving it from James' trunk we spotted you down in the Slytherin dungeons, dug out the invincibility cloak and sneaked out to find you."
Remus nodded but stopped with a groan as his head started to pulse painfully. He closed his eyes again and gulped as he waited to hear the rest of the explanation.
"When we finally had found you and begun making our way back you were so exhausted that you passed out."
Remus snapped his eyes open. "I what?" He asked astonished.
"You passed out." Peter piped up from somewhere behind Sirius. "Fell straight to the floor just as Slughorn had walked by."
"You were right next to us one moment and down on the ground the next." James filled in with a grimace. He looked at Remus with an expression that shifted from concern and pity. Remus really hated to be pitied.
"Yes, and? How did I end up in here?" Remus sighed. He didn't need to hear about the details of his fall. If his aching body was anything to go by it had been a nasty one.
"After you had passed out I carried you the way to the Hospital Wing underneath the invincibility cloak while James and Peter walked a few steps ahead, checking the Map and clearing the road from any obstacles."
Remus felt his cheeks heat when the information reached his brain. Had Sirius carried him? He didn't know if he was lucky to have been passed out of not, he would have loved to feel Sirius so close to him, but at the same time it would have been too embarrassing to really be able to enjoy the ride. Still, Sirius had carried him...
"Are you even listening?"
Remus snapped back to reality and watched as Sirius chuckled, still holding his hand securely in his.
"W-what?" Remus croaked red in the face.
"I said that after we reached the Hospital Wing we left you to Madame Pomfrey's care. She immediately began cleaning you wounds, cast healing charms and produced a potion seemingly out of thin air." Sirius smiled and begun to rub his thumb along the outside of Remus' hand. His heart skipped a beat and he tried to tell his body to calm down.
Sirius frowned when he continued. "She asked us what had happened, looking really worried, but James told her a very unbelievable story about how you tripped fell down from the second flight of stairs. I don't think she bought it but she nodded and stopped pressing us for more information." He finished, smiling down at Remus again.
"You've been here for about forty five minutes now. We didn't want to leave until you woke up so Pomfrey let us stay." James said as a matter of fact.
"Wait, what time is it?" Remus asked, feeling very confused as he hadn't looked at a clock since before dinner.
"It's thirty minutes to midnight." Peter answered as he stretched out on the chair. "I think we should leave now, I mean we still have lessons in the morning and all." He gave Remus an apologetic look and then begun to rise up from the chair.
"Yeah, Pomfrey will probably chase us out any minute now anyway." James stood up from his chair, gathered the invincibility cloak he had thrown on the floor and stretched out. "It sucks that you have to stay here tonight Moony but we'll get you out in the morning, alright?" He gave Remus an encouraging smile.
"What do you mean by 'have to stay here tonight'? I do?" Remus looked terrified and alternated his gaze from Peter, James and Sirius. He did not like to stay in the hospital wing. It always felt like someone was watching him, the doors squealed at night and the bedsheets always smelled from different potions that he suspected that patients before him had puked or spilled. Remus screwed up his nose when he got a very unpleasant picture stuck in his head.
"I'm sorry but it looks like you do." Sirius answered him with a sad smile. He made to stand up from the bed but then he sat down again, scooted a bit closer and reached out his free hand to push away Remus' fringe from his eyes.
Remus felt his cheeks heat again when he realized that Sirius was threading his fingers in his hair. Sirius stroked his fringe back to the top of his head three times until he lowered his hand to cup Remus' cheek.
Remus felt his heat skip a beat, but before he could do more than unbelievable glance back at Sirius the hand had retreated and Sirius stood up from the bed. Remus felt his mood sink when he felt Sirius other hand let go of his, the cold now quickly cooling it down.
"See you tomorrow Moony." Sirius smiled down at him one last time until he turned around to follow James and Peter out of the Hospital Wing.
"Yeah, bye Padfoot." Remus sighed as he reluctantly tore his gaze from Sirius' retreating frame. He would not be caught staring at his ass again, no matter how firm it was.
"Bye Moony!" "See ya!" Remus heard James and Peter chirp right before he heard the doors slam shut behind them.
Remus decided to try to get some sleep, not that there was anything else to do, when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Turning his head to look around the Wing he saw Madame Pomfrey walking towards him with brisk steps.
"How good that you're awake Remus." She said when he reached his bed. He smiled in response.
"I'm going to do a couple of check up's but then you can fall asleep again, okay?" She asked with a fond smile as she reached over to palm his forehead. While mumbling for herself she brought out her wand and swung it over his body as she checked the healing process of his wounds.
When the procedure was done she swiftly sat down next to him on the bed and lowered her voice.
"How do you feel Remus? You do know that you'll always be my favorite patient right?" She smiled and then reached out to brush away some imaginary dust off his cheekbone.
"I'm alright." He lied. He was not going to tell her how much the wounds hurt or about how the bullies had threatened to hurt him again if he ever told anyone, so he lied and wore a well-practiced fake-smile on his lips.
Though he could see that Pomfrey wasn't buying it, but at least she didn't press him for the truth. Instead she flicked her wand and a glass filled with some funky looking potion came flying towards them out of nowhere. An accio-charm Remus noted.
"Now, please drink this pain-reducing potion and go back to sleep. You will have to stay here for the night but I promise to release you in the morning. I know that you don't like to spend more time here than necessary, but this is what you get for getting into trouble like that." She teased, pinched his cheek and then stood up from the bed. She reached him the glass and then walked away from him.
Remus braced himself for the disgusting taste, raised the glass to his lips and then gulped it all down in one go.
"Yuck!" He gasped as he retched on the bed. He was not a fan of potions.
He placed the now empty glass on his nightstand while he looked around the room. There were only two other patients occupying beds in the room, but Remus liked his privacy so he leaned forward to close his curtains.
Just as the curtains were drawn closed he watched the lights flick out. He guessed that it was midnight and that Pomfrey probably was heading to bed herself.
With one last sigh Remus lowered himself back on the bed, covered his body with the bedsheets and closed his eyes. He felt warm underneath the covers and was grateful that he had such brilliant friends that could save him when he needed them to. He was glad that his life hadn't ended while laying petrified on the stone cold floor of the Slytherin Dungeons, unable to scream for help even if he wanted to.
When Remus felt himself drift off to sleep he let his mind wander some more, and as usual he ended up thinking about Sirius. Curling up into a ball on the small hospital bed Remus soon found himself sound asleep, dreaming about the secret love of his life.