CHAPTER FOURTEEN
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-: sixth year :-
── IN WHICH A SCRATCH CREATES AN ISSUE
. . .
Remus woke up the next day in the hospital wing, as the midday light streamed through the curtains that hung from the tall windows of the hospital wing. He soon recognised the familiar aching pain shooting through his body and held back a groan.
It took him a moment to fully open his eyes, and push himself up on the bed. It was the same after every full moon. The same missing memories, the foggy mind after he woke up. The new scratches up his hands and forearms, the dull ache that spread through his whole body.
"Good morning. Or afternoon. I'm not sure. It's lunch though, so I guess happy lunch." A voice said beside him, and Remus looked over to see Tiger sat on the only other bed in the area sectioned off by the curtains which Madame Pomfrey always set up for him.
Closing the transfiguration book that was balanced on her lap, Tiger swung her legs over the side of the bed, so she was sat on the side.
"The boys are getting you some lunch. They left me to make sure you didn't wake up and shoot out of bed. Althought I'm pretty sure you won't be doing that any time soon." Tiger smiled slightly.
"Why do you look so happy." Almost instantly Remus knew the attitude was something that had changed drastically between the past few days and last night. "And is that a bandage on your arm? Tiger I-"
"Don't over exert yourself, Rem." Tiger stood up. "Madame Pomfrey left some of that medicine that they use for pain. I'll go get you some water so you can get the taste out of your mouth. I know how nasty it can be."
"But-" Remus stopped as Tiger almost pranced out of the curtained off area, the two purple pigtails on the sides of her head bouncing with every step. If he wasn't in so much pain, he would have questioned how Tiger knew it tasted so bad - seeing as it was used for the sort of pain which he was in - intense.
She arrived back with a glass of water in a couple of minutes, sitting back down on the bed and taking the cap off of the medicine and pouring it into a seperate cup.
"Why do you have a bandage on your arm?" Remus asked, as soon as he had washed the taste out of his mouth by downing the glass of water.
"Funny story, and well to put it shortly, neither you nor your friends could stop me from coming out last night. So I went out." Tiger shrugged. "You need more medicine? Pomfrey mentioned if you did need it you could have it."
"Did I do it?" Remus's voice was a lot more quiet as he interrupted Tiger's attempt to distract him through the means of the pain medicine. Instantly Tiger fell quiet, which meant to Remus that it was him, he had done what he feared he would do.
He groaned, and another shooting pain travelled around his body. Tiger instantly shot to her feet, trying to say something but it came out in stutters and she couldn't say it and just stopped.
"So you're telling me-." Remus's voice began to raise. At that point, Sirius, James and Peter burst through the curtains into the room, and both of the cousins turned to look at them.
"I'm gonna go. We can talk about it later Rem, you just get better ok?" Tiger said, grabbing her book and walking over to the three boys, smiling a little as she did. "Sirius? Can we talk for a second?" She asked, and Sirius nodded, following her out.
James and Peter placed the food down next to Remus, and Peter hurried out to refill the glass with water. The Potter boy sat down where Tiger had sat and sighed, looking over at his friend as he began eating.
"I think I can guess what that was about." James sighed. "I promise, Moony, it's not what it seems."
"Well what is it then?" Remus snapped. "I told her that I didn't want her to come out and then she did and got hurt, just like I predicted. Sorry.. the medicine always puts me in a bad mood." He said, when he saw James's face, and instead of saying anything else, he began to eat the soup that they had brought for him, dipping in a chunk of bread.
Peter reappeared moments later, handing the werewolf the water. And then a couple minutes later, Sirius entered the curtains, pulling Tiger behind him. He stopped in front of the bed, looking over at Remus, an arm around Tiger's shoulders.
"It was me who hurt Tiger. It wasn't you." Sirius said, and before Remus could say anything, he continued. "So stop hating yourself and hate me instead."
"Sirius what-" Remus said, and Tiger looked horrified at what he was saying, as did James and Peter. "I could never-" Remus continued, but Sirius was having none of it.
"You didn't want Tiger to come out because you feared you would hurt her. But it was me who did. It was the black dog that scratched the fox, not the wolf." Sirius folded his arms, looking straight at Remus. "Any questions?"
"No but I do." Tiger burst out, looking at him. "I asked you to explain it to him, Sirius, in a calm way. Why would you say this sort of thing.. why would Remus ever hate you? He couldn't hate anyone."
"Guys can we just stop." James sighed, and it was his turn to have everyone look at him. "If the conversation is going to be like this, we should at least wait until Moony is back in his own bed."
"Fine. But I don't hate anyone." Remus said. "Especially not you, Sirius, how could I hate you?" He said, and Sirius almost looked ready to cry right there.
"I think me and Sirius are going to go calm down." Tiger said, a small smile on her lips, glancing over at James, who nodded. "Enjoy your lunch, Rem. Come one, Sirius."
Tiger pulled Sirius out of the curtained area, and together they walked past the Great Hall, down a few corridors and into an empty classroom. Sirius leaned on the teacher's desk, staring at the floor, whilst Tiger stood up, arms folded.
"I know you haven't known me for long, and I'm probably the last person you would want to talk to regarding whatever is going on.. but I'm here to talk if you want to. Or if you want to skip Care of Magical Creatures and just chill in here." Tiger shrugged, sitting on the top of one of the tables.
"I think you might be a better option, considering you haven't known me for half my life." Sirius said, still not looking up from the floor. "Since I came to Hogwarts, I've been labelled with all sorts of things. Starting with what house I was in, but as I got older, it was who I was seen with."
"And I'm not talking about James or Remus or Peter. Me and Marlene have been on and off for a while, and during those break ups, whenever I was seen with a girl, I was dating her, in the eyes of everyone else." Sirius continued, still staring at the floor, he didn't need to look up at Tiger to tell that she was listening.
"So I got a reputation as someone who played girls, who slept with them and broke their hearts. Marlene knew it wasn't true, but it always seemed to be rumours which kept breaking us up." Sirius sighed. "I guess now is a good time as ever to tell you that me and Marlene didn't break up because a disagreement, or a rumour."
"I'd been thinking about it all summer, whilst I was stuck at my parents and then when I ran away and lived at James. And on the train, it confirmed it for me. I wasn't interested in her anymore, not at all." Sirius sighed, and the silence dragged for a moment.
He seemed to be having a hard time figuring out what he wanted to say, and so Tiger moved to sit next to him, placing an arm over his shoulders, like he seemed to like to do for others.
"I keep doing things which my parents would hate, and maybe thats why I think it took me until I got out of their house to figure it out. But I don't think it was the rumours which made me and Marlene break up so many times. I was never fully into it, I don't think." Sirius sniffled, and Tiger could feel her heartbreak slightly as she heard his voice thicken with tears as he spoke.
"I think I reacted that way and I think I broke up with Marlene because I'm gay, and I think I like Remus. And I can't stand him hurting himself or hating himself. I'm scared people will hate me" Sirius said, and he could barely get the wordsout of his mouth, becoming more consumed by his emotions and the tears went from his throat to spilling down his cheeks.
Tiger didn't need to say anything to him, and Sirius knew she understood and accepted it - part of the reasons why he told her, because he knew she would. Tiger just stood up and hugged him, letting him crying until all the tears were out.
"It's ok." Tiger continued to say, rubbing his back, a small, knowing smile on her face. "It's all ok."
They did end up missing the next lesson anyways.
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