Delicate | James Potter

2.27

"Guys wake up! Remus and Sirius and James are in the Hospital Wing!"

This was the first Alice heard of the 'prank'. It had been just a week and a half since the hallway fight, and whilst she'd been surprised at the lack of retaliation from the Slytherins, she was thankful for it. Maybe she'd been too naïve.

It was Marlene who woke them up from their sleeps, bursting through the door at some ungodly hour of the morning to tell them. The sun had only just risen, you could tell by the clouds and the warm hues they held. But it wasn't time to gush over the sunrise: this was the most panicked Alice had ever heard Marlene sound.

She was up and on her feet before Lily had even processed what Marlene said, a disturbing chill settled in her stomach. She knew it had been a full moon, she'd only been discussing it with Peter and James yesterday afternoon. Peter and James who'd left their homework session chirpy and excited for a night in the forest. She knew they always ended up scratched and bruised in the Hospital Wing the next morning, she'd taken to visiting them occasionally with snacks and supplies the mornings after, but she couldn't shake the alarm in Marlene's voice. Alice was praying it was simply because she didn't know what they were up to, and any injuries she may have seen were minimal.

Dumbledore was stood outside the doors to the Hospital Wing, chatting in hushed whispers with McGonagall, when Alice, Marlene and Lily finally fell to a halt. All three were in their pyjamas still, Alice's fluffy socks sliding over the cold stone floors as they came to a halt, though neither Professor seemed surprised by it.

She was expecting them to immediately tell the girls to turn around and go back to bed, but Dumbledore simply bowed his head slightly and stepped backwards to allow them past. That in itself was concerning.

Alice pushed through the door, holding it for the other two to squeeze past too. The room was eerily empty, save, of course, for the three beds right at the back in the corner.

And the fourth bed, more central and apart from the others, currently in use by a different, unexpected, more unfortunately familiar face.

"Sev?" It was Lily who spoke first, voicing the confusion of all three girls.

He looked up at them immediately, face pale and sickly. He didn't appear to have any major physical injuries, just a sweat covered forehead and slightly shaky hands.

The trio of Gryffindor boys looked up too at the sound of Lily's voice. They were all a lot worse for wear. Sirius had a cast on his arm and his foot was in a sling, suspended in the air. His long hair was matted and greasy around his face, incredibly unlike his usual self - you would never catch Sirius looking quite as terrible as he did right there. Remus too was covered in bandages, bandages and blood. His face littered with cuts both old and very new, and there was no sign of light to his eye; he was miserable and he was angry and he looked to be in tremendous amounts of pain.