Painted Scars // WOLFSTAR

Year Two: Pity

By the time Remus returned from the Hospital Wing, classes were long over and the sky was turning a deep shade of blue. "How's your stomach?" James asked as Remus entered through the portrait into the common room. The three boys were sprawled across the furniture, chatting by the fire.

"Huh?" he replied, but when Sirius gave him an intense look, he jumped to action. "Oh! Yeah, it's a bit better. She made me stay longer than I wanted to." He lowered himself into the seat next to Sirius carefully, throwing his legs over his lap and letting his head dangle off the side of the sofa. He moved slowly, and Sirius noticed the steadying breath he took when he stretched out. Sirius decided the gash must be hurting him, so he handed him a pillow to prop his head up. "What are we talking about?" he asked, accepting the pillow graciously.

James snickered. "We're placing bets on whether or not Vivienne fancies Sirius." Vivienne Price was a frequent discussion topic between the four boys, though Sirius had no interest in entertaining it. They argued that since she kept smiling at him, she liked him–but he knew that Remus was smart enough to take his side.

"Of course she does," Remus decided easily.

"She does not!" Sirius defended. "Just because she's nice to me doesn't mean she has a crush on me!" Remus rolled his eyes while the other boys laughed.

"She asked you to write to her over the summer. Did you ever do that, by the way?" Sirius frowned.

"No."

"And has she spoken to you since?"

"...No."

"Do you think that maybe implies her feelings are hurt because, I don't know, she likes you?"

"No!" Sirius defended for a final time. Alright, maybe she had a tiny crush on him, but that didn't mean they had to talk about it! "There's no way to actually know, so we should just drop it." Remus ticked an eyebrow with a grin.

"No? Why don't we ask her?" Remus lifted his head. "Vivie–!" Sirius slammed a hand over the other boy's mouth, scanning the room desperately, only to find that she wasn't even there. Remus laughed from under his hand, making Sirius scowl and let go.

"You're an arse." The three boys just laughed, and Sirius tried to hide his smile when Remus kicked at him playfully with a socked foot. When he found that he couldn't, he just rolled over and buried his head into the couch cushions.

"Loosen up," James suggested with a grin. "It's just a little crush."

"Yeah, you make it seem like you have a crush on her too," Peter said.

"I don't have a crush on her!" he said immediately, flipping off of his side to look at them. "That's disgusting!"

"It's alright, Sirius. She's very pretty–"

"I don't care! I don't fancy her!" Sirius didn't take the time to consider why he found the thought of liking her disgusting, especially when the two of them had a very nice chat in Charms.

"Okay, okay, we get it, you don't fancy her," James said, flipping his textbook shut and nodding at Peter. "Did you want to work on the Herbology homework with me, Pete?"

"Yeah, sure. You guys wanna come?" Sirius shook his head, ears red from the conversation, and Remus did as well. The two boys retreated up the steps, leaving Sirius and Remus alone in the common room.

"Does it still hurt?" he asked, immediately turning his attention to Remus' wound. He wasn't sure if he'd given the boy enough time since their last talk; he didn't want him to close up again, but he wanted to make sure that his friend was alright.