fatal love

Chapter 42

Sirius, James and Peter all went back to the Hospital Wing after dinner, and although they were allowed in this time, Remus was still out cold. His whole chest was wrapped in bandages, and his arms and face were covered in angry purple bruises.

Sirius left Remus' timetable on the nightstand, as well as his notes on the syllabi for each class for the year. He'd written his opinion on each syllabus in the margins, because he thought Remus would find that funny, even if he'd disagree with everything Sirius had said.

Madam Pomfrey told them he wouldn't wake up until the next morning, and even then she wouldn't let him leave. Reluctantly, they said goodbye to Remus' sleeping body, going back up to the Common Room.

When they got there, the girls were sat round the fireplace again, pouring over a copy of Witch Weekly. Sirius stared at them apprehensively.

"You coming up to the dorm?" James asked him.

"Uh, you two go ahead," Sirius said. "I gotta do something first."

They shrugged, going up the stairs to the dorms without him, as Sirius made his way over to the girls.

"Hey," Marlene said, looking up and grinning at him, "what's up?"

"Not much. Hey, Evans," he turned to look at Lily, who was watching him distrustfully, "can we talk?"

She considered for a moment, staring at him hard. "Fine," she sighed, getting up. They walked to an empty corner of the Common Room, where they wouldn't be overheard, and Lily looked at him expectantly.

Sirius took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," he said. "For dragging you into my fight with Snape last year, and acting like my family when you tried to talk to me about it. That was wrong, and my family is awful. I don't want to be anything like them, ever. So, I'm sorry, really."

Lily's face was hard. "Thank you. But that isn't everything. You still bully my best friend, are you really telling me you're going to stop doing that this year?"

"I'm going to stop acting like my family. That has nothing to do with me hating Snivellus. And don't call me a bully, you know as well as I do that he gives as good as he gets."

"That doesn't make it okay."

"Look, I'm really trying here," Sirius said. "I - okay, goddamn it, I actually miss you, okay Evans? And I had a really shit summer, and my relationship with Reg has gone to shit since we fell out, and, honestly I just miss you. And I think you miss me a little bit too. And I really am sorry. So can we just forget about Snape, and make up? Please?"

Evans kept him waiting for a few seconds, and then a smile crept onto her face. "I think that's the most sincere I've ever seen you act," she said.

"So we're okay?" Sirius asked hopefully.

She nodded. "Yeah, we're good. It'll make Remus happy at least, he's been pushing me to talk to you for months."

"Me too!" Sirius grinned, and Lily chuckled.

"Don't let Potter get jealous just because we're friends again," she warned.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that anymore," Sirius said airily. "Dear James has decided he's moving on."

"What, really?" Lily asked skeptically.

"Yup, he says he wants a girl who likes Quidditch."

Lily snorted. "Well, she'd probably be the perfect person for him."

Remus was awake the next day, and smiling at all of them when they visited him, despite the obvious pain that he was in. Pomfrey let him out the morning after that, and he was annoyed that he'd had to miss two days of school already.