The Losing One || Sirius Black

23. Smiling More

This time, Remus found himself waking up with such strong pain that he wondered if the transformation even happened or if it was still the spine reshaping part.

As his consciousness came back and adjusted to the situation, Remus realized that the pain wasn't coming from his spine. It was coming from his leg. More specifically from his right thigh.

When he looked down, Remus was met with a long and deep cut that was still bleeding and not lightly, but fully river bleeding. At first, he panicked. There was so much blood that he was practically in a little puddle of it.

He tried to get his shirt in the desperate attempt to wrap it around the wound to try and stop the bleeding, but it was too far away. He would have to move which terrified him because then the cut would probably start to bleed even more because of the muscle movement which will result in the pain increasing.

"Remus? Is everything alright?"

Remus thanked Merlin for the existence of Lyall Lupin in that moment, "Dad! We have a little problem, but don't panic.", he tried to reassure his dad, but the tone of his voice gave him away. It was filled with terror.

Lyall immediately opened the door and gasped at the sight of his son in a puddle of his own blood. Remus didn't really like this reaction. He was well aware that Lyall's healing abilities were limited.

His dad ran towards him, "Okay, okay. Where are your clothes? I'll put the shirt on the wound and press on it to help with the bleeding, okay?", the boy nodded desperate for any kind of solution, "Remus, this will hurt a bit, grip onto this.", Lyall handed him his jacket which he immediately squeezed.

Remus felt his dad press onto the wound which hurt like hell, but he just kept squeezing the jacket while gritting his teeth. Lyall withdrew his wand and muttered some spell which caused Remus even more pain. This time he did let out a small cry, but he saw the blood slowing down a bit, not fully but enough for him to keep his hopes up.

Lyall instructed him on how to keep the pressure on the wound, "Keep doing that while I sent out a patronus.", Remus didn't really know what that meant, but he kept the pressure on his thigh just like Lyall showed him.

"Expecto Patronum"

With a flick of his dad's wand, a bright light started forming, showering the dark basement with blue hue. Before Remus could even blink, big eagle appeared in front of the two. Lyall told him to hurry and get Madam Pomfrey, to which the majestic animal flapped its wings and disappeared through the door.

The beautiful scene was almost enough to make Remus forget about the throbbing pain and blood coming from his thigh, but as soon as father and son were left alone in the dark again, his attention snapped back to his leg.

When Remus saw that his hands were drenched in blood, he started to shake. Was this really the end? He just started to love his life and now he was supposed to just leave it all behind? He was supposed to leave James, Sirius and Peter just like that?

As he lifted the pressure from the wound from shock, Lyall immediately stepped in, replacing Remus' soaked hands with his own, "Don't panic son, this is nothing Madam Pomfrey can't fix. She will be here any second, don't worry.", Lyall must have seen the pure horror on Remus' face because he continued to reassure him, "She will apparate straight here and just flick her wand and everything will be okay. Hey, Remus look at me."

At that sentence, Remus finally lifted his gaze from the bloody hands to look at his father who gave him another reassuring look, "Don't worry son. You can handle this. It will be okay."

There was something so sure in Lyall's eyes that it made even Remus believe him. His dad was right. A little cut wouldn't separate him from the life he finally started to love. The wolf will not defeat him.