Shelter • wolfstar au

27 ; nightmares

Chapter Twenty seven: Nightmares

16 November, 1982

A loud shatter echoed through the nursing room and startled the two puppies who were being welcomed to their new home. All eyes wheeled to look at Remus who flushed in embarrassment and bent down to pick up the shards of the bottle that has fallen from his hands.

A piece of cloth was passed to him, which he used to wipe away the medicine which had spilled out of the bottle and was seeping through the thick carpet. As he used a mop to clean up the powders of glass, he suddenly had the strange desire of being able to perform magic and clean up any mess with a simple flick of his wand. Reparo, he remembered Sirius saying it once. He said the word a few times in his mind, as though seriously expecting it to work.

Once he had cleaned up the floor, Adam came over to him with a look of concern on his face. Remus avoided his eyes and kept his face downcast, as he looked through the medicine cabinet for a second bottle. When he found it, he took it to the dog that lay unconscious on the table, having been injected with an anaesthetic.

Jem was the vet of the shelter, but the other workers knew bits and pieces of dog anatomy and how to treat certain diseases too. Remus in no way was a professional, but he had learnt plenty in his four years at the shelter, and therefore usually treated a few dogs whose conditions weren't too serious. As he took some of the medicine into a dropper to be fed to the dog, Adam came beside him and cleared his throat.

"You've been rather sullen lately, Remus," said he, and pursing his lips, Remus turned to look at him.

"I've been having a bad day. No big deal."

"Hm," Adam said, but it was clear from his expression that he would be questioning him more about the matter. He mentally prepared himself for it. "I haven't seen Santa Paws in a while. Why don't you bring him to the shelter?"

"He's - uh - busy."

Adam took it as a joke, for he laughed. "Bring him tomorrow, okay? He can't remain holed up in the house all day."

He nodded his head, rather absently, and went back to treating the ill dog.

The company of the dogs has always been therapeutic for him, and no matter what his mood was, he always felt better whenever he was around them. Lately though, this method didn't seem to be working, leaving Remus in a permanently desolated state from which he couldn't pull himself out. Thoughts of Sirius clouded his mind majority of his time, and frequently he has begun find himself worrying about his condition.

It was quite obvious to Remus that the state of the wizarding world has worsened significantly in just a matter of a few days. Sirius left the house every now and then in response to his pendant heating up, and returned each time with scars and dirt all over his body. But the physical injuries paled in comparison to what was going on inside his mind. He was scarily quiet most of the time, and his health was deteriorating exponentially. Remus had witnessed him talking in his sleep as a result of a nightmare several times, and he was left unsure of what to do - stuck between letting him sleep and face his fears, and waking him up and letting him know that his privacy has been invaded. Given his massive pride, Remus wasn't sure he would take it too well.