The Sickbed Blues

The Sickbed Blues

"Ahchoo!"

"Bless you."

"Danks, Moony."

"You better not get me sick too, you great git."

"'m glad ta know you care, Lily; warms my heart."

The infirmary was a bit noisier, and busier than it usually was, thanks to the flu bug that was sweeping through Hogwarts. It was still frigid outside, with no sign of the spring months that were soon to come, making even those who were healthy feel as bored and miserable as those who were not. One of its many victims was the now out of comission Marauder known as Sirius Black, who was dealing with his illness as well as could be expected.

"Goddamn bloody flu!" he swore.

... Which was not very well at all, really. His friends, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Lily Evans and Remus Lupin had come to visit him, as had become their daily ritual ever since Sirius had first gotten sick three days ago.

"Here, Padfoot," James said, handing him a couple of boxes of chocolate frogs. "Never can have too many."

Sirius eyed the ever-growing mountain on his bedside table rather skeptically. "Thanks, I was starting to get worried that I'd be able to see the rest of the room again."

Ignoring his immature show of ingratitude, Lily handed him a stack of papers and books. "You've avoided classes for three days already. If you don't do some actual work soon, you'll have McGonagal on your case."

Peter looked sympathetic, and tried to cheer him up. "Well, at least you missed out on three Potions classes. We've been doing so much work in there I don't think I'll ever recover."

"Grand," Sirius grumbled moodilly. "Just what I was looking forward to."

"Erm, well, we didn't have to work with the Slytherins this time," Peter tried again, fidgeting rather nervously.

"Bloody good thing, that," Sirius said, glowering. "After Pomfrey tried to put Snape in the next bed over, I don't think I could handle seeing any more of their ugly faces."

James laughed. "Yeah, we heard all about the 'Snape Fiasco' from Pomfrey. I think you're going to be permanently on her bad side after this."

Sirius sighed, and lowered his voice to a quiet whisper. "So when's the next full moon, anyway?"

"You've got another week," Remus answered quietly. "But I'm sure she'll let you in to see me anyway."

"I hope so."

James shrugged. "You could always take the cloak if she doesn't."

Sitting up, Lily began gathering up her things, then pointed at the clock. "We need to leave before we're late for dinner. We'll see you tomorrow, Sirius."

Watching morosely from his bed, Sirius wished that one of them had gotten sick too, so he had someone to keep him company. He was shaken from his selfish musings however, when he noticed that Remus hadn't left with the others.

"What's up, Moony?"

"I thought I'd stay and have dinner with you," Remus answered. Sirius grinned.

"Great!" Then he nodded in Madam Pomfrey's direction, rolling his eyes. "If the old bag let's you stay, that is."

Remus smiled. "Oh, I'm sure she won't mind."

She didn't. In fact, she even got their food first, and Sirius had no doubt in his mind that it was due solely to Remus' presence. Not that he was complaining, of course. Shoveling food into his mouth, Sirius noted that Remus wasn't eating much, and he frowned disapprovingly. "You need to eat more, Moony, or they'll be sticking you in here with me for anorexia."

Remus rolled his eyes. "I'm just not very hungry right now. You know how I am."

He nodded. Remus usually ate less before the full moon, then made up for it by gorging the following week. He placed one of his rolls on the other boy's plate, fixing him with a determined look. "Still, it can't be good for you to starve yourself for a whole week every month."

"Yes, Mother," Remus commented dryly, and Sirius grinned.

"That's my boy. Now be a dear and see if you can get me out of this hellhole."

Remus sighed. "I'm sorry Sirius, but I'm afraid you're stuck. James and Peter would kill me if I let you back in our dorm when you're sick."

Smirking suggestively, Sirius lowered his voice so that no would be eavesdroppers would overhear him. "Well, I could always hide in your bed."

A dark flush crept over Remus' cheeks, and he narrowed his eyes at Sirius. "I don't really think that's such a good idea, Padfoot."

Sirius snapped his fingers. "Damn. I suppose you're just going to leave me here, then, all by my lonely self..."

"That's exactly what I'm going to do," Remus confirmed, taking a sip of his pumpkin juice. "I'm in no hurry to get back into the infirmary, you know. Besides, there's practically twenty people in here. You're hardly alone."

Donning his infamous puppy eyes, Sirius looked over at Remus and pouted. "But they're not nearly as much fun as you are, Moony."

They had both finished their meals by now, and Remus stood up, smiling down at Sirius. "I guess you'll just have even more to look forward to, then. I need to go and do some homework, so I'll see you again tomorrow."

"All right, go on and ditch me then," Sirius mumbled. "I'll be counting the minutes, Moony."

Remus shook his head, a little smile gracing his features. He reached into his bookbag, a leather one that Sirius had bought him for Christmas last year, and pulled forth a cream colored envelope with Sirius' name written across the front. He handed it to him. "Here, this is for you. Bye, Sirius."

"See ya," Sirius replied, watching mournfully as he left. He sighed, glancing down at the envelope he held in his hand and wondering what it could be. He grinned, hoping that Remus hadn't noticed that he'd coughed on that roll; it may have been a bit underhanded, but he hated being sick, and misery did love company. And you really couldn't do better than Remus, as far as company went. His curiosity finally got the better of him and he slid a finger under the flap on the back, pulling it open. There was a muggle card inside, which were becoming fairly popular these days in the wizarding world; they even sold them in Hogsmeade now.

On the cover was a little black labradour puppy, curled up alseep with a plaid blanket. There was a box of tissues beside it, and a bottle of medicine. He smiled and opened it, and laughed when he read what was written inside.

Hope your nose is wet and cold again soon.

-Moony

~Fin~